Thursday, February 11, 2021

"No, No They Can't Take That Away From Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


                                   And they won't, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                   I  speak  for many when I say that the 1939 "Wizard Of  Oz" is in my bloodstream,  and  is  part of my DNA.   Nothing can ever surpass it.


                                    Well,  some  upstart hack  named Nicole Kassell, whom  I never heard of,  or  could care  about, and  who directed three episodes of  a  2019 miniseries called "Watchmen," which I never heard of,  or  could  care  about, is  slated,  with New  Line Cinema, to do a remake  of "The Wizard  Of Oz."  The sheer, unadulterated gaul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                      But let me  reassure some.  First, those on  here will never  see it.  I certainly won't, and  it  will  never stand  the test of  time for 80 plus years,  as the  Garland  film  has. I can tell you,  this  film  will not  run for  eight weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                        To further assuage you, it  is not to  be a  replica of  the MGM  film.   Kassell is  proposing  a  "fresh take" on  the  story, and  God  knows  what  that means.  But, for  sure, it will not  be a musical,  which means there  will  be no  desecration  of  "Over The Rainbow," or any other part of the Arlen-Harburg score.


                                          So,  what's the  point?  Who gives a damn???????????????


                                           Let me  tell you  something.  In  Mel  Torme's 1971 book, "The Other Side Of The Rainbow," recounting Judy Garland's ill-fated variety show, he recounted an incident where  the star lashed back at her  writers, for suggesting  a funny sketch built around  her song,  "Over The Rainbow."  According  to  the  book,  Garland herself said,  "There  will be  no jokes  of any kind about 'Over The Rainbow.'  It's  kind of  sacred.  I don't want anyone...anywhere...to lose the  thing they have about Dorothy,  or that  song!"


                                           The lady knew her  audience.


                                            Which is  why this production and  set will  be  cursed, as was "The Exorcist."  Judy will  haunt the  productiion from  the grave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                                The graves  of  the MGM  cast must  be  spinning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 comments:

  1. Exactly!
    What is thee point!
    Name one remake that was as good as the original.
    I cannot think of any!

    ReplyDelete

  2. Victoria,
    I agree. I can't even name
    a movie remake.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are many; The Beguiled, Black Narcissus, Psycho, Ben-hur, The Music Man, Willy Wonka, Red Dawn, Fame, The Parent Trap,

    ReplyDelete

  4. Victoria,
    You are right. I saw both "The Beguiled"
    and "Black Narcissus." Awful. Oh, and
    "Psycho," too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. All one need do is view a single episode of "Watchmen" to know where this is going: "Fruitvale Station" thinly disguised in "Oz" trappings. And it will be an inexplicable hit, just as the grotesquely re-imagined, obnoxiously on-the-nose and instantly-dating-itself "Watchmen" is a hit (so far removed from it ambiguous origins its unrecognizable to anyone who came of age with it).

    Expect this new version to make Diana Ross'shaky movie of "The Wiz" look as good as the Garland version, and the Garland version look like "Citizen Kane" by comparison.

    No thanks. If I want urban, I'll listen "The Wiz" broadway cast album. If I want perverse and creepy, I'll watch Fairuza Balk and Jean Marsh in "Return To Oz". If I want dark and feminist, I'll watch "Emerald City" (wherein at least one gets to ogle Oliver Jackson Cohen in a loincloth).

    ReplyDelete
  6. On an Oz-adjacent note, I fell on the floor in surprise the other night when I was idly flipping channels and came across an old 1978 "Love Boat" episode featuring Patty McCormack playing a wannabe-wife kissing up to potential in-laws Billy Barty and Patty Maloney (who were playing little-people parents to tall Edward Albert). Had never seen Patty playing an adult "babe" before: always kinda thought she disappeared after Rhoda Penmark (how could she ever top that, really...)

    ReplyDelete

  7. My Dear,
    Patty had a short recurring role
    on "The Sporanos."

    Also, as to above, the Garland version
    was, is, and always will be on the level
    of "Citizen Kane!"

    ReplyDelete