page contents The Eternal Wisdom: hollywood movie
Showing posts with label hollywood movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hollywood movie. Show all posts

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Life’s work of Pat Morita

Pat Morita - Asian American Actor in Television Series Happy Days
As we remember him, he will always be our Mr. Miyagi that we miss seeing on-screen for many years. I do really miss Pat Morita, he was a great actor that inspired countless martial artists around the world. In an article titled “Goodbye to Pat Morita, Best Supporting Asian,” Lawrence Downes of the New York Times said, “The movie and TV industry has never had many roles for Asian-American men, and it seemed for a while that they all went to Mr. Morita. Whenever a script called for a little Asian guy to drive a taxi, serve drinks or utter wise aphorisms in amusingly broken English, you could count on Mr. Morita to be there.

Born in Isleton, California, Morita was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp as a child. After a long bout with spinal tuberculosis and a stint as a computer programmer, Morita became a popular stand-up comic, which led to his role on TV's '70s hit Happy Days as Arnold, the malt shop owner. That in turn led to The Karate Kid.

To me, Mr. Morita was more than just a small actor. His star was shining brightly over Hollywood and people tend to recognize Mr. Morita's efforts in performing trues martial arts (e.g. The Karate Kid) many years after he departed. 

Already an experienced actor and stand-up comic (sometimes billed as Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, usually as Pat Morita), he was particularly known for his portrayal of the excitable Arnold, owner of the drive-in malt shop in the television series Happy Days (1975-76 and 1982-83), and he was the first Japanese American to star in a television series (Mr T and Tina, 1976). But it was as the diminutive "Miyagi sensei" to Ralph Macchio's "Daniel-san" that he achieved international fame - the film was a huge box-office success and Morita starred in three sequels, two with Macchio and the last with a female pupil played by Hilary Swank.


A small glimpse in Pat Morita's life

When he left the hospital at the age of 11, it was after Pearl Harbor, and he was sent to join his family who, along with 110,000 other Americans of Japanese ancestry, had been put in an internment camp:

I was picked up at the hospital by an FBI agent wearing dark glasses and carrying a gun. I think back to the ludicrous nature of it all: an FBI man escorting a recently able-to-walk 11-year-old to a place behind barbed wire in the middle of nothing!

The Karate Kid II
After the Second World War, his family eventually settled in Sacramento and opened a restaurant serving Chinese food (because of lingering Japanese prejudice). After graduation, he joined an aerospace company, but at the age of 30 decided to pursue a career in comedy. Billed as "The Hip Nip", he gained a reputation in clubs, then was asked to fill in for an ailing headliner at a Hawaiian theatre. Finding an audience of war veterans, many disabled, observing the 25th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, he began by telling them he wanted to apologize, on behalf of his people, for screwing up their harbor. The audience roared with laughter and cemented the comic's reputation.


Miyagi Do Karate Kid T-Shirt
Miyagi-Do Karate Kid T-shirt
Morita made his screen début in the pastiche of Twenties musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), playing (with Jack Soo) one of two Orientals assisting Beatrice Lillie (as a white slave trader) in her nefarious activities. More than 20 other films preceded his casting in The Karate Kid, including Midway (1976), in which he played a Rear-Admiral indecisive about whether to arm his planes with bombs or torpedoes. He auditioned five times for his star-making role, which he won despite the producers' wanting a Japanese rather than Japanese American actor - they were considering Toshiro Mifune. To make him sound more ethnic on the credits, they asked Morita to use his given name, Noriyuki, rather than his stage name of Pat.

He proved perfect casting, catching the enigmatic character's endearing quirkiness (in one scene he teaches Macchio how to catch flies with chopsticks) and vulnerability (in a memorable drunk scene - partially written by Morita - he confesses his enduring sorrow that his wife and child both died during the child's birth at an ill-equipped internment camp). Morita lost the Oscar to the Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor (for The Killing Fields).

Morita, who earned an Oscar nomination for “The Karate Kid,” died Nov. 24 at his Los Angeles home of natural causes. He was 73. We truly miss him!










Noriyuki Pat Morita


Paul Newman - The man who talked less but did more

Paul Newman had a really remarkable personality

Paul Newman had a really remarkable personality and extraordinary talent acting in movies and theaters. Long story short, Paul Newman did things throughout his career that I must salute. Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born in January 1925, in Cleveland. Newman was nominated for an Oscar 10 times, winning the best actor trophy in 1987 for The Colour Of Money. The actor with the piercing blue eyes is best known for his leading roles in The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, and for playing opposite longtime friend Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He appeared in about 60 films over a period of 50 years.




Career Breakthrough

Newman made his Broadway debut in William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Picnic in 1953. During rehearsals, he met actress Joanne Woodward, who was serving as an understudy for the production. While they were reportedly attracted to each other, the happily-married Newman did not pursue a romantic relationship with the young actress.

Around this time, Newman and his wife welcomed their second child together, a daughter named Susan. Picnic ran for 14 months, helping Newman support his growing family. He also found work on the then-emerging medium of television.

In 1954, Paul Newman made his film debut in The Silver Chalice for which he received terrible reviews. He had better success on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning The Desperate Hours (1955), in which he played an escaped convict who terrorizes a suburban family. During the run of the hit play, he and his wife added a third child -- a daughter named Stephanie -- to their family.

A winning turn on television helped pave the way for Newman’s return to Hollywood. Working with director Arthur Penn, he appeared in an episode of Philco Playhouse, “The Death of Billy the Kid,” written by Gore Vidal. Newman teamed up with Penn again for an episode of Playwrights '56 for a story about a worn-down and battered boxer. Two projects became feature films: Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and The Left-Handed Gun (1958).

In Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Newman again played a boxer. This time he took on the role of real-life prizefighter Rocky Graziano -- and demonstrated his considered acting talents to movie-goers and critics alike. His reputation was further magnified with Penn’s The Left-Handed Gun, an adaptation of Gore Vidal’s earlier teleplay about Billy the Kid.

That same year, Paul Newman starred as Brick in the film version of Tennessee Williams' play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), opposite Elizabeth Taylor. He gave another strong performance as a hard-drinking former athlete and a disinterested husband who struggles against different types of pressures exerted on him by his wife (Taylor) and his overpowering father (Burl Ives). Once dismissed as just another handsome face, Newman showed that he could handle the challenges of such a complex character. He was nominated for his first Academy Award for this role.





Later Acting Career

The Long Hot Summer (1958) marked the first big-screen pairing of Newman and Joanne Woodward. The two had already become a couple off-screen while he was still married to his first wife, and they wed in 1958 soon after his divorce was finalized. The next year, Newman returned to Broadway to star in the original production of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth. The production saw Newman acting opposite the great Geraldine Page, and was directed by Elia Kazan.

Newman continued to thrive professionally. He starred in Otto Preminger’s Exodus (1960) about the founding of the state of Israel. The following year, he took on one of his most famous roles. In The Hustler (1961), Newman played Fast Eddie, a slick, small-time pool shark who takes on the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). For his work on the film, Paul Newman received his second Academy Award nomination.

Taking on another remarkable part, Newman played the title character -- an arrogant, unprincipled cowboy -- in Hud (1963). The movie posters for the film described the character as “the man with the barbed wire soul,” and Newman earned critical acclaim and another Academy Award nomination for his work as yet another on-screen antihero.

A Life - The biography of Paul Newman written by Shawn Levy
In Cool Hand Luke (1967), Newman played a rebellious inmate at a southern prison. His convincing and charming portrayal led audiences to cheer on this convict in his battle against prison authorities. No matter how hard they leaned on Luke, he refused to bend to their will. This thoroughly enjoyable and realistic performance led to Paul Newman’s fourth Academy Award nomination.


The next year, Newman stepped behind the cameras to direct his wife in Rachel, Rachel (1968). Woodward starred as an older schoolteacher who dreams of love. A critical success, the film earned four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture.

A lesser-known film from this time helped trigger a new passion for the actor. While working on the car racing film, Winning (1969), Newman went to a professional driving program as part of his preparation for the role. He discovered that he loved racing and started to devote some of his time to the sport.

That same year, Newman starred alongside Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). He played Butch to Redford’s Sundance, and the pairing was a huge success with audiences, bringing in more than $46 million domestically. Recapturing their on-screen camaraderie, Newman and Redford played suave con men in The Sting (1973), another hit at the box office.

During the 1980s Newman continued to amass critical praise for his work. In Sydney Pollack’s Absence of Malice (1981), he played a man victimized by the media. The following year he starred as a down-and-out lawyer as The Verdict (1982). Both films earned Newman Academy Award nominations.

While he was widely considered one of the finest actors of his time, Paul Newman had never won an Academy Award. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to correct this error by giving Newman an honorary award for his contributions to film in 1985. With his trademark sense of humor, Newman said in his acceptance speech that “I am especially grateful that this did not come wrapped in a gift certificate to Forest Lawn [a famous cemetery].”

He returned to the character of Fast Eddie from The Hustler in 1986's The Color of Money. This time around, his character was no longer the up-and-coming hustler, but a worn-out liquor salesman. He is drawn back in the world of the pool by mentoring a young upstart (Tom Cruise). For his work on the film, Paul Newman finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Approaching his seventies, Newman continued to delight audiences with more character-driven roles. He played an aging, but crafty rascal who struggles with renewing a relationship with his estranged son in Nobody's Fool (1994).

Newman played a crime boss in Road to Perdition (2002), which starred Tom Hanks as a hitman who must protect his son from Newman's character. This role brought him another Academy Award nomination -- this time for Best Supporting Actor.

In his later years, Paul Newman took fewer acting roles but was still able to deliver impressive performances. He earned an Emmy Award for his nuanced depiction of a lay-about father in the television miniseries Empire Falls (2005), which was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Richard Russo novel. The miniseries also provided him the opportunity to work with his wife, Joanne Woodward.


He started Newman's Own food company

Paul Newman came to be known as one of the finest actors of his time. He also started the Newman's Own food company, which donates all profits to charity.








Final Years

That same year, Newman announced that he was retiring from acting. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said during an appearance on Good Morning America. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that’s pretty much a closed book for me."

Newman, however, wasn't going to leave the business entirely. He was planning on directing Of Mice and Men at the Westport Country Playhouse the following year. But he ended up withdrawing from the production because of health problems, and rumors began to circulate that the great actor was seriously ill. Statements from the actor and his representatives simply said he was "doing nicely" and, reflective of Newman's sense of humor, being treated “for athlete's foot and hair loss."

A private man, Newman chose to keep the true nature of his illness to himself. He succumbed to cancer at his Westport, Connecticut home on September 26, 2008. This is where he and his wife had lived for numerous years to get away from the spotlight and where they chose to raise their three daughters, Nell, Melissa and Clea.

As the news of his death spread, praise and tributes began pouring in. "There is a point where feelings go beyond words. I have lost a real friend. My life -- and this country -- is better for his being in it," friend Robert Redford said after learning about Newman’s death.

Paul Newman will be long remembered for his great films, his vibrant lifestyle and his extensive charitable works, and his relationship with Joanne Woodward will always be regarded as one of the most successful and enduring love stories in Hollywood history.






Saturday, July 23, 2016

The Bridge on the River Kwai rebuilt

Sir Alec Guinness actor from the uk

It is perhaps one of the most iconic movie scenes of all time - the moment the bridge on the River Kwai is blown up in the 1957 film about prisoners of war in World War Two. Now, 59 years after it was destroyed, the Sri Lankan authorities plan to rebuild the wooden star of the Oscar-winning film The Bridge On The River Kwai. While the World War II epic was supposedly set in Japanese-held Burma, it was mostly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) between 1956 and 1957, less than a decade after independence from Britain.

An epic movie that I will never forget! Incredible actors like Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa demonstrated that good movies are possible using low-tech technology and passion. Nowadays many movies are somewhat the same and I hardly remember any actor. 

Tourist hotspot: Visitors in the area like to call in and see where the Bridge on the River Kwai was built for the Hollywood film.











The 1957 film was shot in various locations, concentrating in particular on Sri Lanka, where a wooden bridge was built as a set.

One hundred meters downstream there was a second bridge during World War II. This was a wooden bridge that could carry light diesel rail trucks transporting construction materials while the main bridge was being built.




In recent years, the village has become a magnet for adrenalin junkies who can white-water raft down the river, whose real name is the Kelani. But after Sri Lanka's Electricity Board unveiled plans to dam the river as part of a £50million ($82million) hydroelectric project, there was widespread dismay among locals whose livelihoods depend on tourism. In a bid to soften the blow, the electricity board has announced that it will pay for the reconstruction of a new wooden bridge, built on the original's foundations, to attract fans of the Oscar-winning movie. 'We have offered to rebuild the bridge at the same location,' the board's chief project engineer Kamal Laksiri told AFP.
''Today there is no bridge, only a few concrete posts remain. But we have looked at drawings and pictures of the bridge and we will recreate it.''
Many fans have around the world have been waiting for such good news. It would have been a disaster for local tourism not to reconstruct the bridge. 

The final scene in which a British officer played by Alec Guinness blows up a rail bridge that his fellow prisoners of war have just built was shot at sleepy Kitulgala, two hours' drive from the capital Colombo.
The explosion scene, in which a train packed with Japanese VIPs derails and then plunges into the river below, had to be shot twice in 1957 after a cameraman failed to give the correct signal to director David Lean. Elephants were used to haul the train out of the river for the second take and locals used the wooden debris to build homes or keep as souvenirs.



With Japanese engineers in command, a rickety bridge and lackadaisical work by the POW soldiers prove inadequate and dooms the project. But under British engineers, a stronger bridge begins to take shape. Taken from the book by Pierre Boulle and with a screenplay by Carl Foreman, it’s a story of enduring courage. The majority of films about World War II deal with the European theater, but this movie is the finest one depicting the courageous actions of British troops half a world away. Its values — steely adherence to military regulations and traditions in the face of unbridled fanaticism — are still compelling, fifty-nine years later.

As with many movies, the story of the production was almost as interesting as the film itself. The real camp was in Thailand along the river Kwai, but the movie was filmed in Ceylon along a wide rushing stream near Kitulgala along dense jungle. As Col. Saito said: “There are no bars here. The jungle keeps you in.”

Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, is halfway around the world. The intense heat and humidity were a heavy burden on cast and crew alike. There was also the challenge just to reach the set, live there for weeks, and oh yes, make a movie. Producer Spiegel built bungalows, installed plumbing facilities, water filtering, even a gourmet food-catering service. (Government officials in Colombo soon heard about the French Chef on location, and soon trekked to join Spiegel for lavish lunches.) Spiegel’s chauffeur-driven Jaguar took him as deep into the jungle as the roads would permit.)


He built miles of roads and cut through the mountains for the railroad tracks. Sixteen elephants hauled trees across the river for timber to build the bridge. The filmmakers used no special effects, building a bridge similar to the one in real life, and used few modern techniques to preserve authenticity. On a budget of just seven million dollars, that was a real challenge in and of itself. Today, computer animation would have created a railroad, but in Spiegel’s time, he bought an old engine and six railroad cars, then cut them in two to transport them through the jungle, then had them re-assembled by welders.

But Director Sir David Lean couldn’t quiet the numerous jungle birds whose squawks and chirping crickets before filming caused delay. Thus, just before rolling, he’d fire a gun in the air to scare them off. At least Holden had no problem with his makeup; he’d leap into the muddy river to get dirty before each scene.

World War II movies need a technical advisor so a General of the British army was hired. He was a veteran of jungle warfare, and wore a monocle even to bed. He believed “every boy of 17 should be sent into the jungle with no food nor water and suffer a bit of pain. It would teach him so many things.”


But not everyone was pleased to have the movie filmed in their country. The local press denounced Spiegel as a “Yankee imperialist” and “capitalistic exploiter.” Holden –the George Clooney of the 1950’s – was attacked as “The Great White Star.” A security guard was sent to mind the bridge, lest it be blown up prematurely. The troublemakers notified customs officials, saying the completed footage would contain diamonds and opium, hoping the ensuring inspection would spoil the negative. One night in Colombo, Lean and Spiegel were surrounded by men with knives yelling: “Money! Money! Money!” Spiegel, who’d fled the Nazis right after Anschluss engulfed his native Austria, would not be cowed. He placed his hand in his pocket and yelled: “Pistol! Pistol! Pistol!” The marauders dispersed.

Three Siamese actresses were hired, though they hadn’t read the script. So they lugged along evening gowns, unaware their roles were porters carrying heavy equipment for the commandos sent to blow up the bridge.

The movie even created its own mini-zoo, thanks to animal lover and environmentalist Holden. There was a stray cat, two parrots, a monkey, and a flightless owl who took a liking to Guinness. He’d feed it with an eye-dropper while it sat on the actor’s shoulder. Guinness would coax it while feeding it, saying: “Come, come. Here’s Mom.”

Bridge on the River Kwai told a story that hadn’t been widely known. In the recent movie “The Railway Man,” a former POW working on the same railroad suffered the effects of Japanese torture four decades later. Both films show how courage in the face of evil can be one’s finest saving grace.