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Here is a heavy-handed, confrontational based drama released in 1978. "Fingers," a film that is outright violent and dramatic, and was very influencial to many filmmakers in the mid 1970s.
This was based upon its release worldwide. If you are not judgemental towards movies, well this is for you. It has a very Francis Coppola feel to it, and you'd swear it was made by director Martin Scorsese. This was the first feature to come from director James Toback.
Keitel was one of the most deserving actors in the 70s, but got overlooked for years.
This was until the 1990s when Tarentino cast him in some of his popular movies that highlighted Keitel's acting chops. This kind of film is rarely seen today on screens in your shopping mall complex. I got lucking in seeing this in an old theater with the director of the film in attendence.
*E*
Tags:
70s
Added: 12th September 2009
Views: 632
Rating: 
Posted By: Electricland |
 
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Joseph Force Crater was an associate judge of the New York Supreme Court. On August 6, 1930, the 41-year-old Crater was in New York City, ostensibly on business, while his wife vacationed without him in Maine. While in New York, Crater spent time with his young showgirl mistress, Sally Lou Ritz. Crater dined with Ritz and a lawyer friend, then they attended a play. When the show ended, Crater's companions got into a taxi and watched Crater walk away...never to be seen again. After several days it was obvious to the judge's wife and colleagues that something was terribly amiss--especially when court reconvened on August 25 with Crater still absent. An investigation was launched. When the story hit the newspapers, a nationwide manhunt began. Naturally, foul play was suspected. On the morning of his disappearance, Crater's assistant had helped the judge cash two checks totaling more than $5,100. The money was put into two locked briefcases and taken to the judge's apartment. Speculation ran along the lines of Crater paying blackmail money. A grand jury trial followed, yielding 975 pages of testimony. It implicated Crater in shady real estate and financial deals, but the authorities had no success in finding any trace of the judge. (Sally Lou Ritz escaped much of the publicity--but not the gossip--when she herself vanished, never to be seen again.) Crater's wife did not return to her New York City apartment until January 31, 1931--where she found a manila envelope addressed to her in the judge's handwriting. It contained his will, $6,619 in cash, several checks, stocks, bonds, life insurance policies, and a hurriedly penned three-page personal note. The envelope had apparently been placed there after the police had searched the apartment. (Three checks were dated August 30--more than three weeks after the judge had vanished!) For several decades the term 'pulling a Judge Crater' was slang for vanishing or leaving an awkward situation discreetly. On August 19, 2005, authorities announced they had obtained a letter written by Stella Ferrucci-Good, who had recently died at age 91. The missive indicated that Judge Crater had been murdered by her late husband, a policeman, and a cab driver friend. Supposedly a skeleton found under the boardwalk at Coney Island in the 1950s was Crater's. An aquarium now occupies the site. The unidentified bones were interred in a mass grave on Hart Island, the usual spot where unclaimed corpses were commonly buried in unmarked plots. However, Ferrucci-Good's story has a major hole: no record exists of a body ever being found under the Coney Island boardwalk.
Tags:
Judge
Crater
disappearance
Added: 16th September 2009
Views: 1000
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Remember this song?
Remember Austrain Hans Hozel?
How about Falco?
Falco was rising the song charts with four international number ones back then.
In 1986, Falco reached his success with a song that came about from a movie released two years prior, Milos Forman's "Amadeus".
"Rock Me Amadeus" was unique to English speaking countries, because it was in German throughout.
It was number one in a few countries, including America.
He had a another number one song in 1982 called "Der Kommissar," which was all in German too.
But that one never go as beig as "Rock Me Amadeus." The neat fact about that song is that it was brought out in English. Remember the group After the Fire?
It was funny how they did there best to reinterpet "Der Kommissar" into "English Pop".
It went right up to the fifth position in America, and was played in other countries too.
Laura Branigan as well went into the studio and made a new version of the Falco song, but now with newer lyrics. It was called "Deep In The Dark."
That is a thoroughly good way to make Falco's name live on. He passed in the late 90s due to a traffic fatalty. Falco contributed unique songs to the English listening audience with his approach at songs. This is all very well good in the music world, leaving memorable songs that will continue playing for decades.
Hey check out the rating this memorable song got.
Seems that somebody online here hates this song.
Only takes one brat to spoil it. Kinda funny to see a famous song like this embedded with only three stars. I suppose, the one who voted three stars for this is full of nonsense behind the keyboard. Still, it is a great song from the 80s.
Except to the unbeknownst(?) individual who had absolutely no reason to rate a Falco media post. Obviously, he posted a three star rating so he could show-off his double clicking computer mouse pressing talents at me.
You be the judge on that one. YRT is the place to be for apprehensive comedy.
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Tags:
Eighties
Added: 27th September 2009
Views: 1115
Rating: 
Posted By: Electricland |
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The worst sports scandal in American history revolved around the 1919 Chicago White Sox. The White Sox won their second American League pennant in three years and were heavily favored to beat the National League champion Cincinnati Reds in the best-of-nine World Series. But, lo and behold, the Reds won in eight games. Reporters and baseball insiders who watched the games knew something was amiss. White Sox pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, the team's two aces, combined for all five Chicago losses. Their pitches seemed to lack zip. The White Sox also made uncharacteristic errors in the field and amateurish mental mistakes. It took nearly a year for evidence to surface that the eight of the White Sox had thrown the Series for gamblers. The press dubbed them the 'Black Sox,' and the eight were banned from pro baseball. Among them was the great Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose .356 career batting average is the third best ever. In order to restore the public's faith in Major League Baseball, Judge Kenesaw M. Landis was hired by the 16 team owners to serve as the sport's commissioner. He was given a lifetime contract and extraordinary powers. The White Sox did not play in another World Series until 1959.
Tags:
baseball
Black
Sox
scandal
Added: 20th November 2009
Views: 647
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Pretty Mary Kornman was the first notable female star of the Our Gang comedies. When Hal Roach announced in 1922 his intention to produce a series of films starring ordinary kids, six-year-old Mary was suggested by her parents. (Mary's father was one of Roach's photographers.) The cute blonde replaced Peggy Cartwright as the most noteworthy female cast member. She appeared in more than 40 Our Gang shorts in the silent era, often as the heartthrob for smitten boys. This photo was taken in 1924 when Mary was nine. She was dropped from the troupe before her eleventh birthday in 1926 when she was judged to be too old--and was replaced as the lead female by Jean Darling. Mary's younger sister, Mildred, had several non-speaking roles in Our Gang movies from 1926 through 1935. Mary kept acting until 1940. One role had Mary playing the female lead opposite John Wayne in one of his early low-budget westerns. She returned to do two Our Gang shorts in the sound era. Mary appeared as herself, along with a few other Our Gang 'old-timers,' in Reunion in Rhythm (1937). She also played the role of the school teacher in 'Fish Hooky' (1933), which is considered one of the best Our Gang films. Mary died of cancer in 1973 at the age of 57.
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Mary
Kornman
Our
Gang
cast
Added: 27th November 2009
Views: 981
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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One of the truly shocking crimes of the late twentieth century was the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool, England. His killers were two 10-year-olds, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who committed the crime for no discernible reason. James wandered away from his mother, Denise, at the New Strand Shopping Centre on February 12, 1993. His mutilated body was found on a nearby railway line two days later. Thompson and Venables, who had skipped school, were photographed by a security camera leading Bulger away. They took Bulger two miles from the mall where they tortured him and bludgeoned him to death with bricks, stones, and an iron bar. The killers then placed the child's corpse on the railway tracks to make Bulger's death appear to be an accident. They were charged with Bulger's abduction and murder on February 20. The twosome were found guilty on November 24, 1993, thus becoming the youngest people ever to be convicted of murder in England. The trial judge sentenced them to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure, with a recommendation that they should be kept in custody for 'very, very many years to come,' recommending a minimum term of eight years. Shortly after the trial, the Lord Chief Justice ordered that the two boys should serve a minimum of 10 years, which would have made them eligible for release in February 2003 when they were both 20. The outraged British public felt the sentence was far too lenient. The editors of The Sun newspaper began a petition asking Home Secretary Michael Howard to increase the killers' time in custody. The petition eventually topped 300,000 signatures. This campaign was successful. In 1995 Howard announced the boys would be kept in custody for a minimum of 15 years, meaning that they would not be considered for release until February 2008 when they would be 25 years old. In 1997, the Court of Appeal ruled that Howard's decision was unlawful, and the Home Secretary lost his power to set minimum terms for life-sentence prisoners under 18 years of age. The High Court and European Court of Human Rights have since ruled that, though the parliament may set minimum and maximum terms for individual categories of crime, it is the responsibility of the trial judge, with the benefit of all the evidence and argument from both prosecution and defense council, to determine the minimum term in individual criminal cases. After a parole hearing in June 2001, Thompson and Venables were released on a 'life licence' after serving just eight years. The hearing concluded that 'public safety would not be threatened by their rehabilitation.' An injunction was imposed after the trial, preventing the publication of details about the boys, for fear of reprisals. The injunction remains in force, so their new identities and locations cannot be published (although this ruling only applies to the United Kingdom). They walk among us today, protected by legal anonymity. Meanwhile the hapless James Bulger remains two years old forever...
Tags:
murder
James
Bulger
Jon
Venables
Robert
Thompson
Britain
Added: 15th December 2009
Views: 1451
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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In 1978, Alex Haley, the renowned author of Roots, came under fire in a plagiarism lawsuit launched by fellow author Harold Coulander. Haley claimed he had spent a decade researching his heritage for his historical novel, which in 1977 was adapted as a wildly successful TV miniseries. That same year he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the Spingarn Medal for the book. A year later his reputation was forever marred. Courlander went to the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York to charge that Roots was substantially plagiarized from Courlander's own novel The African. Courlander's witnesses included Michael Wood an English professor at Columbia University and an expert on plagiarism. Wood opined in a report that the evidence of plagiarism in Roots was 'clear and irrefutable' and that the copying of passages was 'significant and extensive.' After a five-week trial in federal district court, Courlander and Haley settled the case, with Haley making a financial settlement of $650,000 and a statement that 'Alex Haley acknowledges and regrets that various materials from The African by Harold Courlander found their way into his book Roots.' Haley claimed the appropriation of Courlander's passages had been unintentional. Haley orginally maintained he had never heard of The African, much less read it. Shortly after the trial, however, Joseph Bruchac, an instructor of black literature at Skidmore College, came forward to swear in an affidavit that in 1970 or 1971--five or six years before the publication of Roots--he had discussed The African with Haley and had given his 'own personal copy of The African to Haley.' In a later interview with BBC Television, Judge Ward stated, 'Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public.'
Tags:
Roots
Alex
Haley
plagiarism
Added: 4th February 2010
Views: 5010
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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You can't make this stuff up... From July 2008: A judge in New Zealand, fed up with parents bestowing bizarre names on their offspring, has given a girl named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii the chance to change hers.
Judge Rob Murfitt has ruled that the girl, 9, become a ward of the court so her name can be changed. The girl was involved in a custody battle between her separated parents.
In his ruling made public Thursday, Murfitt expressed concern at the 'very poor judgment' shown by the parents in selecting the moniker.
'It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily,' said Murfitt.
The court heard that the girl was so embarrassed by her name that she never even told her friends.
Instead, she told people to call her K, her lawyer told the family court in the port city of New Plymouth, located on the west coast of the North Island.
The ruling was made in February 2008, but became public five months later when it was published in law reports. The girl's new name will not be made public in order to protect her identity.
In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of strange names given to children in New Zealand.
He said names blocked by registration officials included Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy, Twisty Poi, Fish and Chips, and Sex Fruit. However, Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence were allowed.
New Zealand law does not allow names that would cause offence to a reasonable person, among other conditions, said Brian Clarke, the registrar general of births, deaths and marriages.
Clarke said officials usually talk to parents who propose unusual names to convince them of the potential embarrassment for the child.
Tags:
New
Zealand
Talula
name
change
Added: 15th April 2010
Views: 450
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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