Archive for June, 2011
Cookie, Balak, and Bob the Goon
Sunday, June 19th, 2011
This guy – this Tracey Walter – is everywhere. My first recollection of him came from his role as Cookie in City Slickers. But I knew that he had been in other things that I couldn’t recall: for instance, as Balak in Conan the Destroyer, Bob the Goon in Batman, and Lamar the coronor in Silence of the Lambs. Oh, and there were over 100 others: Philadelphia, Duplex, Midnight Run, Wild at Heart, and Erin Brockovich, for example. Plus on TV: WKRP in Cincinnati, Taxi, Moonlighting, Wings, Monk, etcetera, etcetera. Read the rest of this entry »
Protected: Cheyenne and the Hard Rock
Saturday, June 18th, 2011Barney Miller, You Were So Nice on the Show
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Having only recently getting into watching the TV classic Barney Miller, my exposure to the first three seasons has help me draw the conclusion that the special ingredient in the ensemble cast was the character of Barney Miller himself. Barney was portrayed by Hal Linden, and it was his subtle, sensitive handling of the role that gave the show the extra boost to make it the classic that it was. I can’t think of any other straight-man in the history of television who could be both such a respected and moral man, while having some of the funniest comic reactions to the crazy events going on around him in TV history. Read the rest of this entry »
Four Corners and Mystery Valley
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
The centerpiece of the road trip on which Bob and I had embarked was Monument Valley. Although I had been seeing some equally amazing locations that were all new to me, Bob had visited most of them at some point in his life and had been kindly obliging some of my ‘want list’. But for him, Monument Valley was a first time visit and he wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to see it. Not only was the area – which spans te Utah/Arizona border – gorgeous, but it had been used in dozens of Hollywood films over the years, so the locations would seem familiar to even the most casual film buff. Read the rest of this entry »