Passages

[colinr0380]

Jonathan Kaplan, director of the great Over the Edge and (later) The Accused

Hugely underrated and idiosyncratic filmmaker whose films consistently had feminist themes. The American Cinematheque had an in-person retrospective from him not too long ago, and he was a delight to listen to. Bad Girls (1994) is a really fun popcorn film that has some surprisingly interesting ideas that no other revisionist western from the 80’s or 90’s really explores

Him and George Armitage, who died just a few months ago, were part of the core Corman/New World group that was really able to transition to bid budget Hollywood and maintain their integrity. Joe Dante is the last one left (and maybe Allan Arkush)

It’s also worth noting that Jonathan Kaplan vouched for the services of editor Michael Kahn to Steven Spielberg after they worked together on the excellent Truck Turner

Including his first directorial credit with two of the films in the 'working girls' cycle, Night Call Nurses (NSFW) (co-written by Armitage - according to the 42nd Street Forever trailer collection commentary this is apparently a bit darker in tone than the trailer makes it appear!) and The Student Teachers (NSFW) (both with Dick Miller in the cast!)

The Accused gets rarely shown on UK television now, probably due to its infamous extended rape sequence on a pinball table which was getting major content warnings and discussions about whether it was gratuitous or necessary to have shown even back on its original release, let alone in these more sensitive times (maybe a hangover of the New World-ethos turning into something more serious! Incidentally has anyone ever made the connection of this with The Silence of the Lambs which was also a kind of premise straight out of exploitation cinema just 'done serious'; directed by an alumni who got his start with New World films; and starred Jodie Foster, winning her Best Actress Oscar on both occasions? That would seem to tie those two films together really interestingly). It may not have been as deep and complex in its depiction of response to violation as Straw Dogs (although The Accused delves the deepest into the horrific themes of 'was she asking for it?' brutal character assassination of a victim and the way that bringing the perpetrators to justice in a courtroom is almost like having to re-experience the violation all over again in excruciating detail) but probably stood as the most high profile scene of its type at least until Irreversible came along. I also sometimes wonder if it at all influenced the staging of the central gang rape scene in Satoshi Kon's anime Perfect Blue, which may suggest how The Accused cast a long shadow across the cinematic landscape, although have no firm evidence to support that thesis!

On a lighter note, as a kid I remember that, whist it was no WarGames, I did enjoy Kaplan's Matthew Broderick falling in love with experimental apes film Project X, though even that did not shy away from tackling some darker material during its course.

[Mr Sausage]

I also sometimes wonder if it at all influenced the staging of the central gang rape scene in Satoshi Kon's anime Perfect Blue, which may suggest how The Accused cast a long shadow across the cinematic landscape, although have no firm evidence to support that thesis!

Can't say about Perfect Blue, but South Park parodied the scene in their episode about Indy 4, showing Indy being raped on a pinball table by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as an extended metaphor for what the filmmakers had done to the franchise with that entry.

[ChunkyLover]

Can't say about Perfect Blue, but South Park parodied the scene in their episode about Indy 4, showing Indy being raped on a pinball table by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as an extended metaphor for what the filmmakers had done to the franchise with that entry.

Wasn’t that more of a reference to “Boys Don’t Cry”?

[Mr Sausage]

Can't say about Perfect Blue, but South Park parodied the scene in their episode about Indy 4, showing Indy being raped on a pinball table by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as an extended metaphor for what the filmmakers had done to the franchise with that entry.

Wasn’t that more of a reference to “Boys Don’t Cry”?

No, it was a pretty direct parody of The Accused.

[GaryC]

Australian rock singer and songwriter Col Joye, aged 88.

[GaryC]

The Accused gets rarely shown on UK television now, probably due to its infamous extended rape sequence on a pinball table which was getting major content warnings and discussions about whether it was gratuitous or necessary to have shown even back on its original release, let alone in these more sensitive times (maybe a hangover of the New World-ethos turning into something more serious! Incidentally has anyone ever made the connection of this with The Silence of the Lambs which was also a kind of premise straight out of exploitation cinema just 'done serious'; directed by an alumni who got his start with New World films; and starred Jodie Foster, winning her Best Actress Oscar on both occasions? That would seem to tie those two films together really interestingly). It may not have been as deep and complex in its depiction of response to violation as Straw Dogs (although The Accused delves the deepest into the horrific themes of 'was she asking for it?' brutal character assassination of a victim and the way that bringing the perpetrators to justice in a courtroom is almost like having to re-experience the violation all over again in excruciating detail) but probably stood as the most high profile scene of its type at least until Irreversible came along. I also sometimes wonder if it at all influenced the staging of the central gang rape scene in Satoshi Kon's anime Perfect Blue, which may suggest how The Accused cast a long shadow across the cinematic landscape, although have no firm evidence to support that thesis!

The Accused was cut on its first UK TV broadcast. I appeared in the video box on Right to Reply asking about that - I'd seen the film on its original release, at a press showing.

[colinr0380]

The screening of The Accused that I have recorded from television is a repeat from 1996 on BBC1, where even with a late night airing they made a strenuous warning that they were showing it uncut (for maybe the first time?) and to be forewarned about the bar scene. I think they only got away with doing it even then because it was a big Oscar winning film starring Jodie Foster.

In some ways the best American film to deal with very similar themes to The Accused came a few years later: the really harrowing documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which aired on Channel 4 in the UK in 2002. That it aired on UK television at all, even in a 'specially edited' version, is surprising in retrospect as Raw Deal deals with a real subject in which a stripper hired for a frat party ended up getting drunk/being plied with drink and assaulted by a guy whilst his friend filmed the 'action' over the course of an entire night. It shows long sections of the assault from that footage in order to (like the scene in The Accused) present it to the audience head on, leaving it to them to decide on whose side to come down on in who is at fault. In that situation the stripper is (understandably) belligerent towards the one guy in particular who is being really rough with her, and is fighting back in the only way left to her after being physically subdued, by verbally belittling and goading him throughout the encounter, which notoriously ended up getting twisted in the subsequent case into the suggestion that she was actually egging the guy on to treat her even more roughly.

Again a bit like The Accused there are class issues at play too, with the working/underclass older stripper being seen as disposable and trying to grift a situation, having her home circumstances, work and lifestyle choices, and 'no future' general character brought into question; whilst the frat boys (and the main guy in particular) come from privileged backgrounds and a lot is made of the way that they will have their bright futures ruined if the woman continues her case against them. Plus, you know, the entire encounter taking place in a university's dorm rooms means that the university itself has a vested interest in 'resolving' the situation quietly too. So eventually after the case is resolved the way it always inevitably was going to end, all that is left is the audience Rorschach test presented by the hours of footage of that night filmed by the onlooker who did nothing to stop either of the drunken people having a rough sexual encounter in front of them.

Raw Deal is definitely not a film to be approached lightly, and may even be in the running for one of the most disturbing documentaries ever made (and like The Accused, the film itself can easily be accused of being part of the problem by showing so much of the assault directly), but is extremely powerful, especially for exposing the hypocrisies and compromises made by everyone around what should be a rather clear cut case. I would suggest it would be worth watching both in a double bill, but that would probably be far too harrowing to view together!

[Gregory]

The German filmmaker Lutz Mommartz, 91
A huge collection of his work is available at the Internet Archive

[JSC]

Norman Eshley, who appeared in Orson Welles' The Immortal Story as well as a recurring role in the
British sitcom George and Mildred.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2025/0 ... s-aged-80/

[hearthesilence]

Norman Eshley, who appeared in Orson Welles' The Immortal Story...

Criterion interviewed him for their reissue. IIRC he says pretty much every audition he's ever had will inevitably lead to someone asking him what it was like to work with Welles.

[MichaelB]

Ray Brooks, pretty much unknown outside the UK and hardly a household name back home either, but he's one of those actors who seemed to pop up everywhere on British television for decades.

(He's probably best known outside the UK for playing the male lead in Ken Loach's Cathy Come Home.)

[Dr Amicus]

Brooks was also Michael Crawford’s housemate in The Knack, which bizarrely is used as a reference point in at least one of the trailers for Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD. His voice will have been a mainstay for many of my generation as the narrator of Mr Benn.

[colinr0380]

He is also in two of Pete Walker's horror films - The Flesh and Blood Show (NSFW), and the fantastic House of Whipcord. Although in House of Whipcord he is very much a supporting character kind of doing the equivalent role to John Gavin's character in Psycho as the investigating friend arriving far too late to change the course of events and save anyone, whose only real purpose is to bring the cops to the door of the institution and the story as a whole to a close.

(I never realised he narrated Mr Benn too! And King Rollo! That's quite a tonal whiplash, if you'll pardon the pun!)

He's also in the supporting cast in the recently released by Indicator Damn The Defiant!/H.M.S. Defiant too.

[MichaelB]

Ironic that Mr Benn should get namechecked, because another very familiar name from the credits of 1960s-80s British children's television has just died, in the form of Blue Peter founder and long-term producer Biddy Baxter, at the age of 92.

[hearthesilence]

Bobby Whitlock, pianist, guitarist and songwriter who was a key member of Delaney & Bonnie's band, an association that led him to play on three landmarks of early '70s rock — Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (where he made his greatest contributions), All Things Must Pass and Exile on Main Street (for which he made fewer, uncredited contributions).

[hearthesilence]

The great jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan, per JazzTimes:

"I’ve had disappointments in life like anyone else but if things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to I feel they still turned out for the best. I try to have a positive attitude. You know I didn’t start singing full time until I was 58 years old. I had a day job for years to support my daughter but when I was let go, that’s when I decided I would try to work full time as a singer and teacher." The great "vocal shaman" Sheila Jordan has left us. She didn't try to sing full-time, she did it, and lived to the grand age of 96. Requiescat in pace.

[Lemmy Caution]

Sheila Jordan grew up dirt poor during the Depression in rural PA. Her mother had her at 17 and led an alcoholic unstable life, so she was raised by grandparents. Married Duke Jordan who unfortunately was fond of heroin.

She has a rather distinctive breathy often delicate voice, maybe the closest I can think of would be Jeanne Lee or Helen Merrill. But she can stretch out a bit like the soprano version of Sarah Vaughan (see Laugh Clown Laugh). But really Jordan had her own idiosyncratic phrasing and singing style, speeding up or slowing down or throwing in trills in unexpected places, presumably a product of being self taught.

Everyone should hear/know the classic George Russell - You Are My Sunshine with Sheila Jordan on vocals. Amazing work. I read some time back that George Russell went to Sheila Jordan's house to persuade her to record vocals on You Are My Sunshine. And after a few practice tries, her mother dismissed his piano playing as all wrong for her voice. Proceeded to displace Russell and deliver a slow spare version which gave Sheila Jordan room to operate, which greatly influenced the final recording. Throughout her career Jordan preferred sparse accompaniment such as a lone bassist. Her debut Portrait of Sheila is the obvious starting point, but for the full-on Sheila Jordan experience try her 1977 outing, Shiela, with only bassist Arild Andersen accompanying her. BTW, George Russell is a jazz great as a composer, performer and theorist -- most of his early works are essential listening.

In that same interview Jordan blames Russell for dropping her after that outing and stalling her career, but a vocal number was a rarity for Russell, plus I believe they were personally involved and then they weren't. She had the misfortune of releasing her impressive debut album Portrait of Sheila in 1963 just as the jazz era ended. She kind of faded from prominence along with other jazz vocalists of the time such as Gloria Lynne, Teri Thornton, Jeanne Lee, etc. Didn't record again for a decade. 1965-85 was a rough time for jazz musicians. She relied on clerical skills to survive. Very few left whose careers date back to the post-war Era.

[hearthesilence]

I regret never seeing Helen Merrill - I think she gave her farewell concerts in 2017 (at the Blue Note in Japan), but it looks like she's still alive, though I have no idea how her health is holding up.

Love George Russell as well, he's made quite a few great albums. Sheila too - despite having her career stalling for a variety of reasons (single parenting was a big reason too), she became quite prolific and maintained a high standard. I'd also recommend Lost and Found, Yesterdays, Songs from Within and Little Song. She even released a solid album earlier this year and performed her last shows at the Green Mill on Valentine's Day weekend.

[Gregor Samsa]

David Stratton, eminent Australian film critic.

[charal]

It was thanks to Stratton - who helmed the twice-a-week movie classics series - that I got to see many great foreign films. I started watching in 1985 when SBS-TV started in Adelaide. I still remember seeing classics from Eisenstein, Renoir, Resnais, Bergman, Eastern European essentials, etc.. Thanks for helping Australians getting an easy dose of culture David.

Read his book I PEED ON FELLINI. He talks about his passion for cinema and the backstory his cinema TV show.

[GaryC]

If it wasn't for David Stratton I would be less likely to be on these forums, and my reviewing and watching history would have been very different. His book on the 1970s Australian Film Revival, The Last New Wave, was a foundation for my learning about the country's cinema and catching a lot of it over the next forty years. His book on the 1980s, The Avocado Plantation, takes the story further, and his final book, Australia at the Movies, brings us up to 2020.

[Aunt Peg]

One could literally write a book on the accomplishments that David Stratton has archived in relation to the screening, reviewing and promotion of the the local and international film industries.

I seed the recommendation of his book I PEED ON FELLINI. A real page turner with lots of great antidotes - his musings on serving on the Berlin Film Festival in 1981 with Joan Fontaine are hilarious. I own all the books he has written and often refer to them.

I also recall on 2014 when David & Margaret retired from their TV show how lost so many people became in deciding what films to go the cinema to see. They really brought attention to many films over the years that would have slipped under the radar and were personally responsible for a number of sleeper hits over the year on the art house circuit.

Outside of the Sydney Film Festival I would see David at screenings and ironically enough he and Margaret were coming out of a preview screening at a cinema as I was going in the week that they announced their end of their show.

RIP to one of the greats who was so full of passion for cinema (trivia: Clint Eastwood long requested that David Stratton review his films for Variety).

[hearthesilence]

Filmmaker Joel DeMott, per her partner in life and filmmaking, Jeff Kreines. Their best-known films are probably Demon Lover Diary and Seventeen, which you can read about here.

Belated NY Times obituary.

[flyonthewall2983]

Ronnie Rondell, best known as the man on fire

[thirtyframesasecond]

Terence Stamp, aged 87, an actor with a remarkable career.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/a ... dies-at-87