For the historical record, since everyone is on this like a fat man on an all you can eat buffet: Shinzo Abe. Alt link. The Mainichi. Japan Times.
Larry Storch. 249 acting credits in IMDB: beyond “F-Troop”, they include “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”, “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington”, “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”, “Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp”, “Airport 1975″…
…and “Mannix”. (“Another Final Exit“, season 1, episode 20. “Portrait in Blues“, season 8, episode 1.)
Edited to add: NYT obit for Mr. Storch, which probably went up as I was writing this.
Gregory Itzin. Credits other than “24” include “Airplane!” (and “Airplane II: The Sequel”, but he went uncredited in that), “Street Hawk”, “Lou Grant”, and “FBI: The Unheard Music Untold Stories”.
I may be missing it, but James Caan also passed away. He of Godfather fame, the place that I saw his death on mentioned a couple of other credits, but failed to acknowledge this, his best role, imho.
Larry Storch always seemed to pop up in a lot of shows, where you least expected him. It makes one feel so old, when you see all of the people of your youth dying off. But then again, many of them also make me glad that I got to live in a time when people like this were around and content to just act, and not feel that they had to be so politically active, and lecture us on how to think, like they had stone tablets from the mountain.
I did do James Caan yesterday, but you may have missed it since it was at the bottom of the entry: I wanted to give the last survivor of Easy Company top billing, and I wanted to put in a jump to showcase two of Caan’s best roles (IMHO).
Sorry , I just went back and see the bit on James Caan. He was really good in the tear jerker Brian’s Song, I saw the first time when I was a kid. It does seem like entertainment TV and Movies were much better back then. Now the studios have so much money to spend on those big budget films, with all of the CGI and such that it seems like the story and characters take a back seat to the explosions and fake shootings and car chases, etc.
I think that I have mentioned the old Saturday Night at the Movies, on NBC, that I used to stay up late watching. Those old movies, often a war movie or a noir etc., were made by people who really cared about putting out a quality movie that would stand up to the best of what had already been made. I miss those days.
I miss them, too.
I think you might find this essay interesting, pigpen:
“When every other scene flashes naked flesh, and every other word is coarse, and blood and computer-generated idols abound, and when you can’t hear the music for the explosions or the explosions for the music, why do you need a story? The story is the scaffold for the corruption — or it just gets in the way. But when you have to tell a story, you may end up telling a great and deeply human story, and people may learn to listen, too.”
I went and read the entire story, it was enlightening.
I remember when I was in my early 20’s, on my daily hourly commute from work back home, with a coworker, listening to public radio’s broadcast of the reading of Adm. James Stockdale’s autobiography. He told much of his time in the Hanoi Hilton, and how his faith allowed him to stay certain in his heart that he would one day go home.
I know that when he ran for VP with Ross Perot, many made fun of him for his seeming lack of stamina. I think that he had more stamina than our current President, but it really doesn’t make any difference. The fact is, James Stockdale was a true hero, who never wavered in his faith in America or God.
No matter how it seems that the country today has many people who have abandoned both each other and a belief in God, I know that it is not the case, and that it is only the people on the extreme left and right that have chosen to leave the traditions of America. I hope that I have not buried my head in the sand, but I have to think that way, or I will give up, and that is something that I learned in my youth to never do.
Thanks for posting the quote, it gives a pretty good look at the entertainment industry, and how they can make good films, if forced to. The big problem, as far as I see it, is that people will let them get away with computer generated garbage and explosions, by spending their money on it. Myself, I don’t go to the movie theaters, for a lot of reasons, but I do watch movies at home. And I usually seek out those with a story, but will watch the occasional sci fi or horror film just for escapism. But only because they are included with Amazon Prime for free.
I’m glad you liked that.
I think perhaps we might be remembering the older stuff with rose colored glasses on. But I also think there’s a good point here.
” Those old movies, often a war movie or a noir etc., were made by people who really cared about putting out a quality movie that would stand up to the best of what had already been made.”
Also, though, I think they were bound by constraints, both in terms of what it was physically possible to do on screen and what was allowed to be done on screen.
I was never a big fan of the Hayes Code, but that article got me thinking. Maybe part of what makes good (or great art) is constraint, Perhaps having limits feeds into the creative process: and when there are no limits, when you can do whatever you want to do, when you can show whatever you want, perhaps things become less interesting.
Maybe that’s why low budget stuff is sometimes more interesting that big budget movies.
I watch Kanopy, a source of movies, sponsored by our local libraries. Some fairly new, some from foreign and some a bit obscure. And they are almost all worthwhile.
You can watch 10 per month for free. You just sign up with your library card number, as long as your library participates. It is commercial free, and has tons of genres and worth looking into.