The Burgess Meredith Catastrophe.

Last night, after the SDC, some of us decided to watch movies over at Lawrence’s.

The main feature of the night was “Kiss Me Deadly” (the Criterion edition, with both endings). I’m not sure if Lawrence is going to review that or not, so I’ll hold off on commenting for now. (I may have some things to say later.)

But before we started that, we felt like watching something short. I’d brought over the first season of “Night Gallery“, and Lawrence was curious about their adaptation of “The Little Black Bag“, so we watched that.

Frankly, it wasn’t very good. The parts where they stuck closest to the original story are also the most talky parts, and the changes they made don’t enhance the story; actually, I think they make it weaker. Somebody who is doing an anthology series for television ought to go back and revisit this story. I think you could make a fine adaptation of it today, with a minimal budget, using CGI and a script that sticks closer to the story.

But I digress. The major point here is that “The Little Black Bag” features our old friend Burgess Meredith again. I knew he was a prolific actor, but it seems like he’s showing up everywhere these days in the stuff we watch.

So the idea came to me: how about a Burgess Meredith Video Night some night? After all, the late Mr. Meredith was not only prolific, but he was a fine Cleveland boy, so why not a night devoted to his work?

What would you put in it?

  • I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it turns out Lawrence and I have never actually seen “Time Enough At Last“. In my case, it just never seemed to come around when I could watch re-runs of the original “Twilight Zone”. I believe those episodes are available on Netflix Instant, though…
  • Lawrence suggested “Rocky“. I’ve never seen it, and I have to say that I’m less wild about it than he is. I don’t know why.
  • In that vein, I’m going to say: probably not “Grumpy Old Men” and “Grumpier Old Men”.
  • I am somewhat interested in seeing “Magic“. though. Besides Burgess Meredith, it also has a William Goldman script, which pushes another button of mine.
  • The Manitou“, just because that’s supposedly completely ridiculous at a MST3K level.
  • I’ve never seen “The Day of the Locust“, either, and I’d like to. Plus: it has Donald Sutherland! And William Atherton! And the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black!
  • Speaking of batshit crazy, “Skiddo“?
  • I’ve never read any of Allen Drury’s work, and I may want to read the book first, but I’d also be interested in seeing “Advise and Consent“. Look at that lineup of actors: they don’t make that kind of movie any more.

That’s probably more than enough for one night. We could always pad things out a bit, too, with episodes of some of the many, many television series he did guest bits on; at least, the ones that are actually on DVD or Netflix.

Any other Burgess Meredith roles I’m missing? Feel free to leave them in comments.

4 Responses to “The Burgess Meredith Catastrophe.”

  1. Wow, I didn’t even know they had done teleplay of The Jet-Propelled Couch.

    I’ve also never seen the “Printer’s Devil” episode of Twilight Zone.

    And I think you almost have to through in Penguin episode of Batman, preferably the first.

  2. stainles says:

    “Wow, I didn’t even know they had done teleplay of The Jet-Propelled Couch.”

    It looks like Meredith directed, but doesn’t appear in it. I’d still want to watch it though, because:
    a) Peter Lorre.
    b) As I’m sure you’re aware, but other people may not be: the “Dr. Kirk Allen” character in real life was, supposedly, Cordwainer Smith.

  3. AT says:

    You’ve left out one of his most critically acclaimed roles, starring in Of Mice and Men from 1939. I haven’t seen it.

    I see that Meredith is also in Golden Needles, a 1974 martial arts film starring Joe Don Baker. I don’t know much about this film but it sounds like lots of fun 70s goodness.

    I admit to being curious about The Hindenberg from 1975. I’m a sucker for blimp films.

    Skidoo has a reputation of being a complete mess in spite of an amazing cast. It was only released on home video recently, due to demands from people who also like Manos: The Hands of Fate.

    His work in Rocky is quite good, but boxing movies (and Sylvester Stallone) are not to everyone’s taste.

    I strongly recommend his role as The Penguin on Batman. The TV series is not available on DVD or streaming, but the 1966 Batman theatrical film with most of the TV cast is available. I own it on DVD and Blu-Ray.

    “Time Enough at Last” is an excellent episode from Twilight Zone season 1, which I own on Blu-Ray. “Printer’s Devil” is also fun but it’s from the 4th season, which I don’t own; oddly enough Netflix has seasons 1-3 and 5 available for streaming, but not 4.

  4. stainles says:

    I noticed “Of Mice and Men”, but left it out, for reasons that seemed good to me at the time and which I can’t recall now.

    “Golden Needles”? Burgess Meredith AND Joe Don Baker? Where do I sign up?

    Roger Ebert gave “The Hindenberg” a pretty negative review, but I’m kind of a sucker for blimp movies, too.

    And are you volunteering to host Burgess Meredith Night?