Huffington Post recently interviewed actor Ray Liotta and brought up the classic tracking shot into the Copacabana. In the long shot director Martin Scorsese followed Liotta (playing Henry Hill) and actress Lorraine Bracco (playing Karen Friedman) as they enter and go through the nightclub to their seats.
In the interview by Ricky Camilleri, Liotta talks about how smoothly everything went and his memories of making Goodfellas. [2024 Update: Unfortunately, the video of the interview is no longer available.]
Liotta, of course, is giving the actor’s perspective, so of course he did not see all of the work that went into making everything so perfect. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus has recounted how it took many days to set up the lighting, more days to shoot it, and more days to put together the edit.
If you want to see the scene again. check it out below. As “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals plays in the background, the long shot reveals Hill opening up a new world to his girlfriend Friedman. It remains one of the great scenes in cinema history.
For more of the Liotta interview head over to HuffPost Live. What is your favorite part of the famous Copa scene from Goodfellas? Leave your two cents in the comments.
When Jon Stewart took a break from hosting The Daily Show to work on a movie, I was not sure what to expect. But from the looks of the trailer for the new film Rosewater that he directed and for which he wrote the screenplay, it looks like he spent his vacation time well.
The movie adapts the book Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival, a memoir by journalist Maziar Bahari. The book and film tell the story of Bahari’s work reporting on the Iranian elections in 2009 when he was accused of being a spy and imprisoned and tortured. Despite the dark subject matter, the trailer indicates that the movie promises an ultimately uplifting story. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari. Check it out.
Rosewater is scheduled to be released November 7, 2014. If you want to know more, Variety has a review.
Will you see Rosewater? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Spike Lee, who directed and played Mookie in Do the Right Thing (1989), recently visited the movie’s Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood in a video made for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the film. In the 22-minute documentary from Beats Music, Lee is joined on the streets of Brooklyn by Danny Aiello, who played Sal in the film, as well as by other stars like Rosie Perez and by other people who worked on the film.
The documentary then ends with a 25th Anniversary Block Party with guests that include Dave Chappelle, Wesley Snipes, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Erykah Badu, and Public Enemy. 2025 Update: Unfortunately, the video is no longer available online, though you can find some celebrations of the 35th anniversary if you search on YouTube.
Sometimes I hate the invasiveness of new technology into our lives, but other times I figure we are pretty lucky. One of those times was when after watching Enemy (2013) I realized I could immediately seek help from the Internet in decoding what Jake Gyllenhaal saw. And recently, while watching Boyhood (2014), there was a scene with a mix CD where I thought, “I bet I’ll be able to find the track listings for the pretend CD on the Internet.” And, of course, I did.
In Boyhood, there is a scene where Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke) gives his son Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) a mix CD he made, called The Beatles’ Black Album. The father explains that it is a compilation of the post-Beatles solo work by George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. He tells how the music fits perfectly together, illustrating what albums we might have heard had the Beatles never broken up, continuing to work together in their mature years.
We get a glimpse of the track list in the movie. And in the theater, I then spent the next several minutes missing what was happening in the film because I was wondering what was on the CD.
The CD, however, was not created just for the movie. Ethan Hawke first made The Black Album for his daughter, even writing liner notes explaining his choices and why he made the album. Fortunately for us curious folks, he reworked the notes a little bit more and released them to the world via the Internet, along with the track listings. For the touching liner notes, which are worth reading, head over to Buzzfeed. You can catch the track listings from the three CDs of The Black Album below.
Disc 1: 1. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Band on the Run”; 2. George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord”; 3. John Lennon feat. The Flux Fiddlers & the Plastic Ono Band, “Jealous Guy”; 4. Ringo Starr, “Photograph”; 5. John Lennon, “How?”; 6. Paul McCartney, “Every Night”; 7. George Harrison, “Blow Away”; 8. Paul McCartney, “Maybe I’m Amazed”; 9. John Lennon, “Woman”; 10.Paul McCartney & Wings, “Jet”; 11. John Lennon, “Stand by Me”; 12. Ringo Starr, “No No Song”; 13. Paul McCartney, “Junk”; 14. John Lennon, “Love”; 15. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “The Back Seat of My Car”; 16. John Lennon, “Watching the Wheels”; 17. John Lennon, “Mind Games”; 18. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Bluebird”; 19. John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”; 20. George Harrison, “What Is Life”
Disc 2: 1. John Lennon, “God”; 2. Wings, “Listen to What the Man Said”; 3. John Lennon, “Crippled Inside”; 4. Ringo Starr, “You’re Sixteen You’re Beautiful (And You’re Mine)”; 5. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Let Me Roll It”; 6. John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, “Power to the People”; 7. Paul McCartney, “Another Day”; 8. George Harrison, “If Not For You (2001 Digital Remaster)”; 9. John Lennon, “(Just Like) Starting Over”; 10. Wings, “Let ‘Em In”; 11. John Lennon, “Mother”; 12. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Helen Wheels”; 13. John Lennon, “I Found Out”; 14. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey”; 15. John Lennon, Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band, “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)”; 15. George Harrison, “Not Guilty (2004 Digital Remaster)”; 16. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “Heart of the Country”; 17. John Lennon, “Oh Yoko!”; 18. Wings, “Mull of Kintyre”; 19. Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy”
Disc 3: 1. John Lennon, “Grow Old With Me (2010 Remaster)”; 2. Wings, “Silly Love Songs”; 3. The Beatles, “Real Love”; 4. Paul McCartney & Wings, “My Love”; 5. John Lennon, “Oh My Love”; 6. George Harrison, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”; 7. Paul McCartney, “Pipes of Peace”; 8. John Lennon, “Imagine”; 9. Paul McCartney, “Here Today”; 10. George Harrison, “All Things Must Pass”; 11. Paul McCartney, “And I Love Her (Live on MTV Unplugged)”
Regarding the movie Boyhood, it is a fun experience seeing how director Richard Linklater filmed the story over twelve years so that the characters, and in particular the young man at the center of the story, age just like the actors. It is worth checking out for that reason alone. Be prepared that the movie is a little long and there is not a lot of plot. But the movie captures real life, which is pretty great for a film. So you should check it out.
As for the Black Album, the CD is a great idea, and while I might make some different choices, it is pretty cool to sit back and just enjoy the list and think “what if?”
What songs would you change on your Beatles’ “Black Album”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The great baseball player George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Jr. passed away on August 16, 1948 at the age of 53. Ruth, who was born in Baltimore on February 6, 1895, died from cancer, which had been diagnosed two years before his death.
Ruth’s Funeral
After Ruth’s death, his body lay in state at the entrance of Yankee Stadium (“The House That Ruth Built“) for two days. During that time, fans lined up to pay their last respects.
This video shows people lined up outside Yankee Stadium to Ruth one last time. It also includes scenes from Babe Ruth’s funeral, as well as some archival footage of the Sultan of Swat. Check it out.
Ruth Movies
In the month before Ruth’s death, Allied Artists released a bio-pic about the slugger, The Babe Ruth Story (1948), starring William Bendix as Ruth. Many critics have called the film, which includes scenes of Ruth healing sick children (a legend parodied by John Candy on SCTV), one of the worst movies of all time.
Regarding The Babe Ruth Story, people also note that the film could not even get little things right. For example, Bendix plays baseball as a right hander. Ruth was a lefty.
But if you watch The Babe Ruth Story with the right attitude and do not expect a realistic biography, you might have some fun. You can check out the trailer below.
Perhaps Ruth was so larger than life and so well known that it is difficult to make a good film about him. Like The Babe Ruth Story, 1992’s The Babe — with John Goodman in the title role — generally received poor reviews.
One of my favorite Babe Ruth movies was not really about Babe Ruth. Pride of the Yankees (1942) tells the story of Lou Gehrig’s career through the discovery that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), what became known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”
In Pride of the Yankees, Gary Cooper pays Gehrig and Ruth plays himself. What I always admired about Ruth’s self-portrayal is that he took part in a scene that makes Gehrig look much better than he does.
In the scene, Ruth visits a sick kid surrounded by reporters covering his visit. Then Gehrig visits the kid in private, showing his sincere concern and promising to hit two home runs for the child during the 1928 World Series. Reportedly, the Gehrig incident never took place and is loosely based on when Ruth promised a home run during the 1926 World Series to a hospitalized boy.
The movie’s version of the story makes Ruth look bad in comparison to Gehrig. But his generosity in playing the scene in tribute to his former teammate says a lot about the The Bambino as a person. Unfortunately, that scene is not available on Youtube (although another scene featuring Ruth is available on the Turner Classic Movies website).
Baseball would not be the same had Babe Ruth not come along, and there will never be another one like him. Thanks Babe.
What is your favorite Babe Ruth story? Leave your two cents in the comments.
, a memoir by journalist Maziar Bahari. The book and film tell the story of Bahari’s work reporting on the Iranian elections in 2009 when he was accused of being a spy and imprisoned and tortured. Despite the dark subject matter, the trailer indicates that the movie promises an ultimately uplifting story. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari. Check it out.
(1948), starring William Bendix as Ruth. Many critics have called the film, which includes scenes of Ruth healing sick children (a legend parodied by John Candy on 