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Shampoo, Carrie Fisher’s Brilliant Film Debut

When fans and writers discuss Carrie Fisher‘s film career, Princess Leia gets all of the attention – and for good reason. Leia was a damsel in distress who held her own and kicked considerable ass in the company of men. Fisher herself said, “I like Princess Leia… I like how she handles things; I like how she treats people.” I grew up with Star Wars. It’s an undeniable cultural phenomenon, and Leia is major for me, too.

But people either forget or are unaware that Fisher made her film debut two years before Star Wars in a little movie with Warren Beatty called Shampoo (1975). Directed by Hal Ashby, Shampoo revolves around a promiscuous Beverly Hills hairdresser (Beatty) who sleeps with virtually every woman who sits in his salon chair. It also stars Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and Lee Grant, who play women he’s sleeping with who all think they’re the only women he’s sleeping with.

Carrie Fisher in “Shampoo” (1975)

In a small but unforgettable role, a then 17 year old Carrie Fisher displayed a precocious razor-sharp wit that was beyond her years at the time – a foreshadow of the disarming and inimitable sass that would become her trademark, a savvy that saw so clearly and hilariously through the hoax of show business and of life itself. In her brief performance as Lee Grant’s daughter and another one of Beatty’s conquests (or was he her conquest?), she beautifully outmaneuvered two of the most lecherous, manipulative and selfish grown-ups (one being her mother) that any adolescent in safe, rich, white suburbia might ever encounter.

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That Glorious Day of the Dead Opener in SPECTRE

SPECTRE was not necessarily everyone’s favorite Bond movie. (Personally, I loved it.) But that legendary Day of the Dead scene in Mexico City was arguably the most incredible opening sequence in the entire Bond series, and certainly the most Halloween-appropriate.

Between the nearly three-minute single tracking shot that starts the sequence from the air, onto the ground, through a parade, into a hotel, up an elevator, then into a room… The beautifully costumed principals and extras… The dizzying helicopter action that ensues… It’s stunning.

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“Jackie”

The idea of “Camelot” during the Kennedy years captivated the country. During and after the Kennedy presidency, then Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (later Onassis) continued to capture the attention and admiration of not just Americans but people over the globe. Her strength, her story, and her iconic glamour continue to fascinate us.

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The forthcoming film “Jackie” offers an intimate portrait of Mrs. Kennedy in the days immediately following the assassination of J.F.K. as a wife, a mother, and an American icon. A trailer for the film, directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Oscar winner Natalie Portman in the title role, was just released today.

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Rear Window (1954)

It’s been hot as hell here in New York City, and I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite “hot in the city” movies that take place here. Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989), Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), Billy Wilder’s “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) and Jules Dassin’s eternal classic “The Naked City” (1948) come to mind. But my absolute favorite is “Rear Window.”

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Making the American Man

As described by the filmmakers, Making the American Man is “a documentary film about modern American masculinity through the eyes of makers of U.S. based goods for men.”

On the surface, the new documentary Making the American Man almost plays like an 70-minute promotion of niche, made-in-America bro brands – a virtual who’s-who of companies you’ll find at Pop-Up Flea. That’s a superficial assessment that would be grossly unfair. The truth is that we are bludgeoned by advertising and promotion from the huge mega-brands with mega-budgets, and it’s nice to see some of these smaller outfits get some long overdue time in the sun.

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To Catch a Thief (1955)

One of my favorite movies ever made is one of my favorite movies ever made because it was directed by one of my favorite filmmakers (Alfred Hitchcock), it stars two of the most beautiful people who ever lived (Cary Grant and Grace Kelly) and it was filmed in one of the most stunning places on the planet (in the south of France, predominately in Cannes, Nice and the surrounding countryside).

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The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

It's got a thin plot with more than a few holes in it, but The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), directed by Norman Jewison, is an unmitigated treat for the eyes. The film stars icon Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown, a…

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Why I Love James Bond

Ian Fleming was an average looking man with an ordinary physique. What he lacked physically he made up for with exceptional intelligence, wit, taste and talent for storytelling. From a privileged upbringing, he became a British naval intelligence officer (though not with assignments as intense as a 00 agent’s) and then a journalist. When he created the character of James Bond for his first novel (Casino Royale, 1953), Fleming essentially created an idealized version of himself: the man every women wanted to be with and every man wanted to be.

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Legend: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins

During the swinging 1960s in London, there were Ronald “Ronnie” and Reginald “Reggie” Kray, career criminal twin brothers who ran an organized crime outfit called “The Firm,” engaging in racketeering, robbery, arson, protection services and murder. They also ran nightclubs, enabling the handsomely tailored and well-groomed brothers to rub elbows with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and political elites. As career criminals go, the Krays were celebrities in their day. They were ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1969. Ronnie died in 1995 and Reggie died in 2000.

Legend, a film on their rise and fall, written and directed by Brian Helgeland, stars the fantastic Tom Hardy doing double duty in the roles of both twins. It’s scheduled for release on October 2nd. I’m totally on board.

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