Word: blvd
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...director. And though his voice was caustically distinct, Wilder triumphed in a wide variety of genres. He made the sauciest farce (Some Like It Hot), the darkest film noir (Double Indemnity), the dearest romantic comedy (Sabrina) in Hollywood history--as well as the tartest evocation of Hollywood history (Sunset Blvd.). His films were utterly contemporary (One Two Three, his 1961 cold war satire, was shot in Berlin just before the Wall went up), yet have stayed as fresh and winning as an Audrey Hepburn smile...
Andrew Zaben wants you to do a little work. Just look at the covers of his three novellas: "Dream Big Dreams," "Queens Blvd.," and the latest, "Tuesday and Thursday" (All Effort Comics; 80pp.; $8.95). The title and price get minimized to a small street sign or upside-down envelope in a panoramic, wrap-around urban landscape of non-descript buildings and streets. Centered on the front are figures that look away from you in distracted or pensive positions. You feel they might catch you staring at them and be annoyed. This unusual, enigmatic design leaves you with more questions than...
...Take a stroll on the north side of Hollywood Blvd. At no. 6721, in front of Joe's Diner, across from the Ripley's Believe It Or Not emporium, stop to glance down at the pavement. There you will see three consecutive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte and Oscar Micheaux. You recognize two of the names. The tan tantalizer Dandridge was the first black to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar ("Carmen Jones," 1955); Belafonte was and is the cool, sexy actor-singer with a half-century's radiance. But Micheaux? Considering...
...fleeting scene in Some Like It Hot, but Billy Wilder couldn't resist giving him a line with a nifty reverse spin on it. That was Wilder all over. He gave Hollywood's top stars their finest, fullest roles: Greta Garbo (Ninotchka), Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity), Gloria Swanson (Sunset Blvd.), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina and Love in the Afternoon), Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot), Jack Lemmon (The Apartment and six others). And what was in it for the viewer? Roiling dramatic dilemmas, complex adult characters and, memorably, some of the tastiest slices of dialogue in movie history. That...
DIED. BILLY WILDER, 95, sardonic, much honored Hollywood director of such films as Sunset Blvd. and Some Like It Hot; in Beverly Hills, Calif. (see page...