Tag Archives: American cinema

RIP William Hurt (1950 – 2022)

William Hurt was an American actor known for his parts in Ken Russell’s drug epos Altered States (1980), the gay epic Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), the cyberpunk classic Dark City (1998) and Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005).

Hurt’s death has made me curious about Dark City, which I should have seen already but I have not.

RIP Douglas Trumbull (1942 – 2022)

Brainstorm (1983), death trip, final scene

Silent Running (1972), opening prayer

Douglas Trumbull was an American film director known for directing films such as Silent Running (1972) and Brainstorm (1983).

He also did special effects on 2001: A Space OdysseyBlade Runner and The Tree of Life.

RIP Peter Bogdanovich (1939 – 2022)

Peter Bogdanovich was an American director and general film person.

To me, he is an integral part of the Roger Corman phenomenenon.

Of all his films, I have the fondest memories of Paper Moon, I remember the beginning of that film vividly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw2FMVsZdTA&ab_channel=EldoradoRoad

Above, a documentary by a certain Adam Hulin.

Happy new year from us.

RIP Melvin Van Peebles (1932 – 2021)

Melvin Van Peebles was an American writer, actor and film director best known for his film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971).

I would advise against watching that movie since it’s historically significant but just not very good.

 Classified X (1998)

Instead, I advise to watch Classified X (1998), a film on African-American cinema and the African-American representation in Hollywood.

RIP Robert Downey Sr. (1936 – 2021)

Chafed Elbows (1966)
Putney Swope (1969), trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rMu8vJ5Jag&t=2690s&ab_channel=PussySt.Homos
 Greaser’s Palace (1972)

Robert Downey Sr. was an American film director and film person, father of Robert Downey Jr. He is known for having written and directed underground films such as Chafed Elbows (1966), almost entirely consisting of film stills; Putney Swope (1969), a satire on the New York Madison Avenue advertising world; and Greaser’s Palace (1972), an acid Western based on the life of Jesus. The films are typical of 1960s counterculture.