Bow down to Robert Altman...

I didn't hate it, but for sure it could have been a lot better. (I posted a somewhat tepid endorsement above.) It seemed like something that should have been in Ron Mann's comfort zone--rogue '60s guy--but it also felt like commissioned work. The one Mann film I like a lot is Dream Tower, about Toronto's Rochdale College.

Was just skimming the annual seniority list put out by the board I work for. We actually have a teacher with the surname McCabe-Miller (she seemingly gets a double listing, with another one under just her birth name above).

Clearly she married solely on the basis of surname.

So Brewster McCloud got a barebones Warner Archive blu-ray release this past week, and being a Houston kid I had to get it... Shelley Duvall is so awesome in it. Nothing but a trailer included, but the transfer is nice and this movie has been otherwise impossible for me to see!

does anyone have the Pret-a-Porter / Ready to Wear DVD? stretched so that the bottom third of the screen is black. authoring problem, issue with newer TVs? is this movie really any good anyway?

Deep Dive on O.C. & Stiggs...which was almost a Stallone or Mike Nichols film.

https://ocandstiggs.tumblr.com/

Just noticed that Netflix has California Split up (in what looks like the theatrical cut--Runtime 108 Minutes)

There was a rights issue with some of the songs, has that been solved?

That's hamstrung most home video releases (the DVD was recut by Altman himself) but apparently doesn't affect streaming, as the theatrical cut has also been available on Prime for a few years.

I haven't streamed it myself, but for whatever reason, Netflix was reportedly able to stream the theatrical version for years going back to 2009. More details here (as well as a list of the changes that had to be made and why):

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews21/california_split_dvd_review.htm

A quote from Altman in that link: "The cost of the music track on California Split was so high that Columbia just couldn't put it into video or DVD. That kept it out of circulation for years. Finally, Elliot Gould went in to find out why they weren't releasing it. When they told him it was because of music, he said "Isn't there something we can do about that?" So I made some cuts and took a couple of songs out. We got it into what they considered a reasonable budget. The picture wasn't hurt by it. And that's out now. It doesn't make any difference, the quality of these things. It's as good as anyone sees them..."

FWIW, Indicator (the UK label owned by Powerhouse) was going to do a deluxe Blu-ray edition for it, but they had to cancel the project long after announcing it due to the music rights issues. Basically it came down to the cost of licensing all the music (yet again), and they didn't have the budget for it - it would've been far more expensive than any title they've done and they didn't want to compromise by using the re-cut version that was put on the DVD.

I’m never sure if it’s bad luck or bad planning (or just premature announcement) that Indicator has but it feels like between that and Ishtar they’ve had some of the highest profile titles that just fell apart after a lot of legwork had already been put in

Haven't watched it for a few years, but what music is there in California Split? All I can remember is "Kansas City," done by the singer in Vegas (in flash-forward, I think--and Gould starts singing along with her as he crosses the street).

Fwiw, I c'n'p-d those notes from DVD Beaver upthread here: Bow down to Robert Altman...

Basically the problem is with the publishers of some of the songs Phyllis Shotwell sings, and a to lesser extent the rights holders for Cheech & Chong's "Basketball Jones" song and promo film.

Oddly enough, the latter appears in every edition of Ashby's Being There.

Phyllis Shotwell, right. And I forgot about "Basketball Jones" (off a TV, I think).

Self-xp

The song <and> video in Being There

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7Ainmmlvg

Of course, that animation is v.problematic.

From wiki:

"Basketball Jones" was originally seen in theaters in late 1973, before showings of Hal Ashby's The Last Detail at select screens. It can be seen during the 1974 film California Split, directed by Robert Altman, although its use in the film prevented California Split from being released on VHS or Laserdisc due to Columbia Pictures' refusal to pay royalties for the song. Altman later removed the song (but not the cartoon) from the film so it could be released on DVD.

Trying to find some record of whether Phyllis Shotwell is still alive. Highly doubtful, but can't find anything that says she isn't.

Detail from the wiki for A Perfect Couple:

The role of Sheila Shea was originally written for Sandy Dennis. Paul Dooley was seriously allergic to cats though, and when cat-lover Dennis would come to the script readings with up to five cats at a time, he was briefly hospitalized.

Dennis was phenomenal in both That Cold Day in the Park and Come Back to the Five and Dime…

She owned several dozen cats at the time of her death

And a joy in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Im thinking The Player might be the best movie about Hollywood. Now that's got a perfect Hollywood ending! Up!