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On Thursday March 6 2025, ABC broadcasts 9-1-1!

Sob Stories Season 8 Episode 9 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “9-1-1,” titled “Sob Stories,” promises to deliver an emotional and action-packed experience. Set to air on ABC, this episode focuses on the brave firefighters of the 118 as they respond to a fire at a local animal shelter. The team faces the daunting challenge of evacuating all the animals trapped inside, showcasing their dedication and courage in a race against time.

As the firefighters work tirelessly to save the animals, viewers can expect to see heartwarming moments that highlight the bond between humans and their furry friends. The stakes are high, and the tension builds as the team encounters obstacles in their mission. Each firefighter brings their unique skills to the situation, emphasizing teamwork and resilience in the face of danger.

Meanwhile, Maddie finds herself in a different kind of crisis. While handling a 9-1-1 call,...

There really hasn’t been a filmmaker quite like Blake Edwards. He could go from the silly-billy comedy of his “Pink Panther” comedies starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau to “Days of Wine and Roses,” a devastating drama dealing with alcoholism to the gender-bender musical comedy “Victor/Victoria” starring his wife Julie Andrews to the underrated Western “The Wild Rovers” with William Holden and Ryan O’Neal. Edwards even turned the diminutive British comedian Dudley Moore into a leading man thanks to his 1979 romantic comedy “10.” And let’s not forget the extraordinary collaboration he had with composer Henry Mancini who earned four Oscars including best song “Moon River” from 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the title tune from 1962’s “Days of Wine and Roses.”

Still, there was no love lost between Edwards and Hollywood.

In my 2003 Los Angeles Times interview with Edwards, who had personality to spare, said “I have been a...

Pat Colbert, who portrayed the stylish Oil Baron’s Club host and manager Dora Mae on the final eight seasons of the CBS primetime soap Dallas, has died. She was 77.

Colbert died June 23 at her home in Compton, her sister Tami Colbert told The Hollywood Reporter. She had suffered three strokes over the past decade.

Colbert also played the wife of Bill Cosby’s character in the lamentable 1987 spy spoof Leonard Part 6 (1987) and showed up on episodes of Benson, The Fall Guy, Sisters and True Colors.

In 1980-81, Colbert was one of the working girls in the roadhouse run by Stella Stevens‘ Lute-Mae Sanders on the NBC primetime soap Flamingo Road, which like Dallas came from Lorimar Productions.

She appeared in the two-hour pilot and recurred throughout the first season, but her character was eliminated in season two when the network — pressured by Rev. Donald Wildmon, who as head...

Julie Andrews's long and decorated movie career showcases her impressive range and lasting talent, especially in musicals like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Andrews's ability to portray nurturing and wise characters, like Queen Clarisse Renaldi in The Princess Diaries, has kept her relevant and beloved by audiences of all ages. Andrews's involvement in billion-dollar franchises like Shrek and Despicable Me highlights her continued popularity and versatility as an actress, even in animated roles.

Julie Andrews' long and decorated movie career has consistently highlighted her impressive range and lasting talent, though some of her films do rank better than others. Andrews entered Hollywood during the final days of its Golden Era and faced severe competition from some of the biggest superstars. She made her initial mark with musical comedies, and although she lost the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady to Audrey Hepburn despite playing the part on Broadway,...

Lisa Marie Presley’s estate in Calabasas, California, has been listed for sale after her death in January. The current asking price is $4,679,000.

The house has been renovated to include upgrades such as a pool, wine cellar and theater by Robb Friedman, her friend and realtor. It has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms at 7,500 square feet. It also boosts breathtaking canyon views.

Lisa Marie rented the house from 2020 until her death. She and her ex-husband Danny Keough lived there together with her twin daughters Harper Lockwood ​​and Finley ​​Lockwood, which she shares with her other ex-husband Michael Lockwood. Reportedly, she loved the house so much she was planning on purchasing it.

Lisa Marie is the only daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley. She died at 55 years old on January 12 due to a bowel obstruction. This was caused by a bariatric surgery, which is weight-loss surgery, that she received years ago.

William Holden may have won his only Academy Award for Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17,” but he wasn’t the first choice to play Sefton, the cynical sergeant who is a one-man black market at a German Pow camp. Originally, Charlton Heston was going to headline the film. Heston was red-hot at the time coming off his flashy starring role in Cecil B. DeMille’s Oscar winning 1952 circus epic “The Great Show on Earth.” But as Wilder and co-writer Edwin Blum were working on the script for the film, which premiered on July 1, 1953 in New York and two weeks later in Los Angeles, the character became darker and more disparaging; They realized Heston wasn’t right for the part

The AFI catalog noted that supposedly Wilder went to Kirk Douglas who had starred in Wilder’s 1951 “Ace in the Hole,” a masterpiece that flopped badly when released. After he turned...

Prisoners of the Ghostland screenwriter/producer Reza Sixo Safai joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his wildest cinematic experiences.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Infested (2002)

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary

Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Mandy (2018)

Candy (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

S.O.B. (1981)

The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Robin Hood (1973)

The Story of Robin Hood (1952)

Modern Times (1936)

The Kid (1921)

The Deer (1974)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Qeysar (1969)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The Warriors (1979)

New Jack City (1991)

Colors (1988)

The Whip And The Body (1963)

Blow Out (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Porky’s (1981)

Cinema Paradiso (1988) – Glenn Erickson’s Region B Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review

Circumstance (2011)

Ninja 3: The Domination (1984)

Flashdance (1983)

Debbie...

Over the years, we’ve seen a very odd trend at the Grammys: albums missing their respective genre categories, yet still getting into Album of the Year. This seemed to be a case mostly for critically acclaimed albums that might not have been the biggest sellers — see Lana Del Rey’s “Norman F*cking Rockwell,” Haim’s “Women In Music Pt. III,” Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer,” and Lorde’s “Melodrama.” Still, this trend wasn’t only reserved to critical darlings, as Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 3,” Sara Barellies’s “The Blessed Unrest,” and H.E.R.‘s “I Used to Know Her” all followed the trend. But those anomalies occurred when nomination review committees could pick and choose the final contenders from among the top 20 vote-getters regardless of how the genre categories shook out. Now without the committees, the question is whether all...

Legendary screenwriter and director Shane Black discusses some of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

High and Low (1963)

Hard Times (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Beguiled (1971) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Kino Lorber Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s Twilight Time Blu-ray review

Convoy (1978) – Dennis Cozzalio’s review

8 Heads In A Duffel Bag (1997)

Diner (1982)

The Bodyguard (1992)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Fist of Fury a.k.a. The Chinese Connection (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary...

No one is more aware of what people think about John Mayer than John Mayer himself. The title of his eighth studio album acknowledges past accusations of sad-boy mopery. The muted pastels of the throwback cover art, complete with a simulation of the “Nice Price” sticker that Columbia Records used to slap on its bargain LPs, dares you to call him a purveyor of slick, dated studio-rock.

[Find the Vinyl for Sob Rock Here]

Is this self-deprecating? A jab at critics? Either way, the self-consciousness of the packaging is notably absent from Mayer’s music itself. He...

John Mayer explained how a driving creative force behind his new album, Sob Rock, was a desire to make a record that was equivalent to “shitposting” on the internet, in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1.

Recalling how he was told at the start of his career that his music was “not what’s hot,” Mayer said, “What I would love other people to understand is that there is no more reason to have to adhere to any given idea of cool. Especially post-pandemic, which for the...

Next week’s Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums Chart will feature new releases from established rap royalty and a rising star, and based on how the two are performing on Apple Music’s Pre-Add Chart, the newbie seems to be the frontunner. Hall of Fame, Polo G’s third studio album, leads the Apple Music Pre-Add Chart for the week of June 4th through June 10th, ahead of Migos’ Culture III, which takes second.

Polo G has never had a Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums Chart, though he came close with The Goat,...

Legendary stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker joins Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Harold And Maude (1971)

White Lightning (1974)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

White Line Fever (1975)

Bound For Glory (1976)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

The Outsider (1980)

Freebie And The Bean (1978)

Sharky’s Machine (1981)

First Blood (1982)

Night Shift (1982)

Rumble Fish (1983)

Against All Odds (1984)

To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)

F/X (1986)

Tucker The Man And His Dream (1988)

Sea of Love (1989)

Miami Blues (1990)

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Demolition Man (1993)

The Crow (1994)

Waterworld (1995)

From Dusk Till Dawn(1996)

Grosse Point Blank (1997)

Django Unchained (2012)

Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park (1978)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

The Fugitive (1993)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Casino Royale (2006)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

The Fast And The Furious (2001)

The Strongest Man In The World (1975)

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Bullitt (1968)

Robbery (1967)

S.O.B. (1981)

Vanishing Point...

Nathaniel Rateliff has released a cinematic new video for “Time Stands,” a track from his solo album And It’s Still Alright. The project was released earlier in 2020 via Stax/Concord.

Filmed during quarantine, the clip, directed by Rett Rogers, captures the lonely detachment and distance necessitated by the present moment. Shot after shot of stunning drone footage reveals carless highways, empty commercial districts, serene beaches, and peaceful wilderness from around the world — locations include California, Brazil, Scotland, Nigeria, and Tokyo. It’s simultaneously eerie and beautiful, dovetailing with Rateliff...

Nathaniel Rateliff was one of the more surprising success stories of the 2010s, a decade that full of strange ones. A big bearded white guy from Colorado, he broke out singing brawny soul music with his band the Night Sweats. Paying proud homage to Memphis soul, Rateliff’s 2015 hit “S.O.B.,” propelled towards mainstream popularity by a thrilling Jimmy Fallon performance, helped him sell half a million copies of Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, which was followed by 2018’s Tearing at the Seams. Rateliff had previously tried his hand as an alt-rocker and singer-songwriter,...

Evans (right) with Robert Shaw on the set of "Black Sunday" in 1977.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Robert Evans has passed away at age 89. The former actor-turned-studio head had a long, dramatic career that saw him appointed to run Paramount Pictures at the tender age of 36 when the studio was bleeding red ink. Under Evans' management, the studio rebounded, releasing such classics as "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Odd Couple", "True Grit" and, most notably, "The Godfather". Even Evan's non-blockbusters became cult classics. Among them: "Harold and Maude" and "The Italian Job". Other hits brought to the screen by Evans include "Marathon Man" and "Black Sunday". His tumultuous private life was the stuff of Hollywood lore including his seven marriages. Evans' producing career started modestly when he bought the screen rights to the crime thriller "The Detective" by Roderick Thorp. He successfully brought it to the screen in an acclaimed 1968 film starring Frank Sinatra.

The line to see Julie Andrews at the 92nd Street Y wrapped around the square of a sprawling New York City block. Seventy years since the start of her career, 60 since she asked “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” as Lerner and Loewe’s first Eliza and 50 since she sang “The Sound of Music” before the Eastern Alps — Andrews still draws a crowd.

Her fans gathered Saturday evening to hear her speak about “Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years,” the actress’ second memoir, co-written with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton and chronicling the breadth of her years in the film industry, from “Mary Poppins” to “Victor/Victoria.”

“I was learning on my feet every inch of the way,” she said, joined onstage by her daughter and film scholar Annette Insdorf, who led the talk.

“My background had been vaudeville and musicals, even in the early, early years with that somewhat...

Blake Edwards would’ve celebrated his 97th birthday on July 26, 2019. Though best known for his comedies, the Oscar-nominated director dipped his toes into a number of different genres throughout his career, including thrillers, musicals and westerns. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1922, Edwards got his start as an actor before becoming a writer for movies and television. He rose to prominence after creating the TV show “Peter Gunn,” which starred Craig Stevens as a super-stylish detective. The series brought Edwards Emmy nominations for writing and directing in 1959.

He enjoyed his greatest big screen successes with the “Pink Panther” series, featuring Peter Sellers as bumbling French detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The films established Edwards as a master of physical comedy and sight gags, which his leading man was more than capable of delivering. The two...

Blake Edwards would’ve celebrated his 97th birthday on July 26, 2019. Though best known for his comedies, the Oscar-nominated director dipped his toes into a number of different genres throughout his career, including thrillers, musicals and westerns. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1922, Edwards got his start as an actor before becoming a writer for movies and television. He rose to prominence after creating the TV show “Peter Gunn,” which starred Craig Stevens as a super-stylish detective. The series brought Edwards Emmy nominations for writing and directing in 1959.

SEEJulie Andrews movies: 15 greatest films ranked from worst to best

He enjoyed his greatest big screen successes with the “Pink Panther” series, featuring Peter Sellers as bumbling French detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The films established Edwards as a master of physical comedy and sight gags, which his...

Oscar-winning actress and singer Julie Andrews will be honored by the Venice Film Festival with its Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement.

Best known for her iconic roles in “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music,” Andrews has starred in more than 40 movies, including a memorable performance as Victoria Grant and Count Victor Grezhinski in “Victor Victoria” (1982), which was directed by her late husband, Blake Edwards. He also directed Andrews in “10” (1979) and in “S.O.B.” (1981).

“This Golden Lion is the well-deserved recognition of an extraordinary career which has admirably parsed popular success with artistic ambition, without ever bowing to facile compromises,” Alberto Barbera, the Venice Film Festival’s artistic director, said in a statement.

“I am so honored to have been selected as this year’s recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement,” Andrews said, thanking the festival’s parent organization, the Venice Biennale, “for this acknowledgment of my work.

This article marks Part 11 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the winners.

The 1970 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:

“Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”

“For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”

“‘Til Love Touches Your Life” from “Madron”

“Pieces of Dreams” from “Pieces of Dreams”

“Thank You Very Much” from “Scrooge”

Won: “For All We Know” from “Lovers and Other Strangers”

Should’ve won: “Whistling Away the Dark” from “Darling Lili”

1970, the year voters embraced monumental pictures including “Patton” and “Mash” and far lesser efforts like “Airport” and “Love Story,” marked a comparably mixed bag in Best Original Song, sporting a truly grand Julie Andrews tune and respectable winner in “For All We Know,...

Soulful Americana outfit Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats were one of the big draws at Farm Aid 2018, kicking off a roots revival in Hartford, Connecticut, over the weekend with their rollicking set of tunes that culminated in a big, multi-artist finish.

The band strutted through several of the upbeat numbers from their 2018 album Tearing at the Seams, including “You Worry Me” and “Be There,” along with earlier favorites like “Hey Mama” and “S.O.B.,” blending airtight harmonies and Stax-style arrangements. Possessing the machismo of a young Springsteen, lead singer Rateliff...

Mini William Holden Centennial celebration. We're beginning, oddly enough, with his final film. Here's Tim Brayton...

The 1981 film S.O.B. wasn't meant to be William Holden's final film: the star died in a household accident a few months after the film premiered, at a mere 63 years old. But it offers a pleasing symmetry to his career to end this way: Holden's big breakthrough, in 1950, was the acid-laced Hollywood satire Sunset Blvd., and there's a comforting rightness that it was with an acid-laced Hollywood satire that his career would end.

Not that S.O.B. has anything on Sunset Blvd., though it's a compelling oddity, and it's one of the few films made by writer-director-producer Blake Edwards after his 1960s heyday that offers all that much to chew on. The film is a deeply caustic fable of how superproducer Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) churned out the biggest money-loser in Hollywood history one day, went...

Among this year’s Golden Raspberry Awards nominees are Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky, up in Worst Actress and Worst Director respectively for the polarizing psychological thriller “mother!” The film, which earned mixed-to-positive reviews from critics but a damning ‘F’ grade from CinemaScore, is hardly the first picture to, despite many glowing notices, earn Razzie recognition. Not only have the Razzies honored outstanding work, they’ve even bestowed love upon Oscar-nominated performances. (Check out the complete list of Razzie Awards nominations here.)

Brian De Palma received a trio of Worst Director Razzie nominations for “Dressed to Kill” (1980); “Scarface” (1983); and “Body Double” (1984), all of which garnered mixed reviews at the time but now are widely seen as among the filmmaker’s best work. He would go on to, more deservedly, earn Worst Director nominations for the panned “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990) and “Mission to Mars” (2000).

See Hey Razzie Awards, Why!

Tony Curtis grew up idolizing the suave and funny Cary Grant, emulated his romantic moves as an actor and then performed a brilliant impersonation of Grant for Billy Wilder. The next step had to be co-starring with the great man himself. Blake Edwards’ amiable, relaxed submarine movie allows Grant to play with ladies’ under-things, while Curtis wrestles with a pig.

Operation Petticoat

Blu-ray

Olive Signature Edition

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 120 min. / Street Date July 1, 2014 / available through the Olive Films website / 39.95

Starring: Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O’Brien, Dina Merrill, Gene Evans, Dick Sargent, Virginia Gregg, Gavin MacLeod, Madlyn Rhue, Marion Ross, Arthur O’Connell.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Original Music: David Rose

Written by Paul King, Joseph Stone, Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin

Produced by Robert Arthur

Directed by Blake Edwards

The latest in Olive Films’ Signature Selection special editions is Operation Petticoat, a light comedy war movie noted for teaming Cary Grant with Tony Curtis.

Blake Edwards: Director of the 'Pink Panther' movies – and Julie Andrews' husband for more than four decades – was at his best handling polished comedies and a couple of dead serious dramas. Blake Edwards movies: Best known for slapstick fare, but at his best handling polished comedies and dramas The Pink Panther and its sequels[1] are the movies most closely associated with screenwriter-director-producer Blake Edwards, whose film and television career spanned more than half a century.[2] But unless you're a fan of Keystone Kops-style slapstick, they're the filmmaker's least interesting efforts. In fact, Edwards (born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 26, 1922) was at his best (co-)writing and/or directing polished comedies (e.g., Operation Petticoat, Victor Victoria) and, less frequently, dramas (Days of Wine and Roses, the romantic comedy-drama Breakfast at Tiffany's). The article below and follow-up posts offer a brief look at some of Blake Edwards' non-Pink Panther comedies,...

New York -- Robert Vaughn, the debonair, Oscar-nominated actor whose many film roles were eclipsed by his hugely popular turn in television’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., has died. He was 83.

Vaughn died Friday morning after a brief battle with acute leukemia, according to his manager, Matthew Sullivan.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was an immediate hit, particularly with young people, when it debuted on NBC 1964. It was part of an avalanche of secret agent shows (I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Secret Agent), spoofs (Get Smart), books (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold) and even songs (Secret Agent Man) inspired by the James Bond films.

Vaughn’s urbane superspy Napoleon Solo teamed with Scottish actor David McCallum’s Illya Kuryakin, a soft-spoken, Russian-born agent.

Photos: Stars We've Lost In Recent Years

The pair, who had put aside Cold War differences for a greater good, worked together each week for the mysterious U.N.C.L.E. (United...

Tony Sokol Nov 12, 2016

Robert Vaughn, who played the suave spy Napoleon Solo on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., had died.

Sad news. Robert Vaughn died this morning, November 11, of acute leukemia at the age of 83, the veteran actor’s manager Matthew Sullivan announced through Variety. Vaughn died in New York “surrounded by his family,” Sullivan said.

Robert Vaughn is best known in his signature role as Napoleon Solo on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but he is also the proud gunfighter who painfully scratches his nose against the slate wall in his last battle in The Magnificent Seven.

David McCallum, who played Vaughn’s Russian spy partner on The Man From Uncle, told TVLine.com he was "utterly devastated. … Robert and I worked together for many years and losing him is like losing a part of me. My deepest sympathies go out to Linda and the Vaughn family."

Vaughn was born in New York City.

Let’s face it: Most horror made for TV isn’t really scary, is it? I mean, we talk about these shows or movies frightening us as kids, but we could say the same about watching a PG rated flick that contains a few good jolts or disturbing themes. The bottom line is a lot of things scare us as children, including real life. And every once in awhile, someone will come strutting along and boast of a TV movie from their youth that they insist is genuinely scary. And when they say genuine, they mean that it still casts a spell today, unvarnished by time. Well, having finally seen it for the first time, I can say that Don’t Go To Sleep (1982) fits the bill, offering up a few for real scares, a sense of unease, a clever teleplay, and an ending that’s still sticking to me like unwanted psychic residue.

James Garner movies on TCM: ‘Grand Prix,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ among highlights (photo: James Garner ca. 1960) James Garner, whose film and television career spanned more than five decades, died of "natural causes" at age 86 on July 19, 2014, in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. On Monday, July 28, Turner Classic Movies will present an all-day marathon of James Garner movies (see below) as a tribute to the Oscar-nominated star of Murphy’s Romance and Emmy-winning star of the television series The Rockford Files. Among the highlights in TCM’s James Garner film lineup is John Frankenheimer’s Monaco-set Grand Prix (1966), an all-star, race-car drama featuring Garner as a Formula One driver who has an affair with the wife (Jessica Walter) of his former teammate (Brian Bedford). Among the other Grand Prix drivers facing their own personal issues are Yves Montand and Antonio Sabato, while Akira Kurosawa’s (male) muse Toshiro Mifune plays a...

‘Maps to the Stars’ trailer and clips: Julianne Moore goes ballistic after losing a role, Robert Pattinson learns that Mia Wasikowska’s parents are brother and sister (photo: Robert Pattinson in ‘Maps to the Stars’) The Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars, the second David Cronenberg-Robert Pattinson collaboration to be screened in competition for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival — following Cosmopolis two years ago — is one of the most anticipated films at the festival for obvious reasons: although an international box office disappointment, the brainy, stream-of-consciousness Cosmopolis earned a number of enthusiastic reviews and was the runner-up (trailing only Leos Carax’s fellow white limo movie Holy Motors) on the list of Best Films of 2012 compiled by the prestigious Cahiers du Cinéma. Check out below the "international" (as in, with French subtitles) red band trailer for Maps to the Stars clip, and you’ll...

Happy 67th birthday to Marisa Berenson. This New York born multilingual beauty, originally a model, has been around forever and in key films, too. Her film career couldn't sustain its major start but few careers could have. Consider that in her first decade acting she made  Death in Venice (1971), Cabaret (1972), Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975) and Blake Edwards S.O.B. (1981). Tough acts to follow, no? She was never prolific, opting for the occasional TV guest spot and films here and there in various countries, but that face -- memorable and impossibly beautiful.

According to IMDb she was rumored for a Vivien Leigh biopic in the 1970s (and wouldn't that be both a challenge and a coup for the right actress?) but the film sadly never materialized. 

More of the impossible beauty [nsfw] of Marisa Berenson after the jump...

Tony Award 2013 nominations: Broadway-Hollywood connections include Sigourney Weaver, Tom Hanks, Paul Rudd, Bette Midler (photo: Sigourney Weaver in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike) The 2013 Tony Award nominations will be announced tomorrow, April 30. Among this year’s potential Tony nominees are a number of film-related performers, ranging from Academy Award nominees and winners such as Sigourney Weaver, Tom Hanks, and Jessica Chastain to The Avengers‘ Scarlett Johansson, Our Idiot Brother and Dinner for Schmucks‘ Paul Rudd, and Tom Cruise’s ex-wife Katie Holmes. Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump) may be up for a Best Actor in a Play Tony Award for Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy. Ephron, who died last year, directed Hanks in two of his biggest box-office hits: Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998), both co-starring Meg Ryan. Another potential Best Actor nominee is David Hyde Pierce (Nixon, Down with Love) for...

New York – Literally the mother of all Hollywood superagents, Sue Mengers let it be known she was displeased at being crassly parodied by Shelley Winters in a giant muumuu in the 1981 Blake Edwards comedy S.O.B. But as famously abrasive as she could be, it’s impossible to believe the late Mengers wouldn’t have puckered up for John Logan’s big wet kiss, I’ll Eat You Last. It’s equally hard to imagine her not being tickled by the eternally fabulous Bette Midler’s portrayal of her – a fusion of one self-made, larger-than-life persona with another in

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New York -- The mother of all Hollywood superagents, Sue Mengers let it be known she was displeased at being crassly parodied by Shelley Winters in a giant muumuu in the 1981 Blake Edwards comedy S.O.B. But as famously abrasive as she could be, it’s impossible to believe the late Mengers wouldn’t have puckered up for John Logan’s big wet kiss, I’ll Eat You Last. It’s equally hard to imagine her not being tickled by the eternally fabulous Bette Midler’s portrayal of her – a fusion of one self-made, larger-than-life persona with another in which the ...

New York -- The mother of all Hollywood superagents, Sue Mengers let it be known she was displeased at being crassly parodied by Shelley Winters in a giant muumuu in the 1981 Blake Edwards comedy S.O.B. But as famously abrasive as she could be, it’s impossible to believe the late Mengers wouldn’t have puckered up for John Logan’s big wet kiss, I’ll Eat You Last. It’s equally hard to imagine her not being tickled by the eternally fabulous Bette Midler’s portrayal of her – a fusion of one self-made, larger-than-life persona with another in which the ...

Actor renowned as the machiavellian oilman Jr Ewing in Dallas

On 21 November 1980, 83 million people in the Us and 24 million in the UK watched the TV show Dallas to see who had shot the villainous Jr Ewing. While working late at the office, the boss of Ewing Oil was suddenly fired on by an unseen assailant. Who shot Jr, and would he survive?

Any character who had ever come into contact with the oleaginous Texas oilman had good reason to do away with him, but there was no way he could really have been killed off. If Jr had died, then the series would have died, because Jr was Dallas – and Larry Hagman, who has died aged 81 after suffering from throat cancer, was Jr.

Other actors were at times replaced in their roles, but Hagman was irreplaceable. Nevertheless, just in case, Hagman quickly renegotiated his contract with Lorimar Studios just after...

Actor Larry Hagman, immortalized for his performance as the legendary villain J.R. Ewing in the TV show Dallas, has died from throat cancer. He was 81 years old and had been actively acting until recently, when he appeared in the reboot of the famous TV series. The last few years had been difficult ones for Hagman. Not only did he have to battle cancer but also had to contend with his wife Maj's affliction from Alzheimer's Disease. Hagman was a working character actor when he was cast as the male lead in the 1965 sitcom I Dream of Jeannie opposite Barbara Eden. The show's success helped launch him to star status and he appeared in dozens of TV series and feature films. However, it was his portrayal of lovable cad J.R. Ewing in the 1981 CBS hit Dallas that elevated him to the status of a TV icon. The show ran...

Larry Hagman will always be identified with the indelible roles he played on "I Dream Of Jeannie" and both iterations of the series "Dallas," but as we mark the occasion of his passing tonight, let's remember that he was a gifted comic and dramatic actor who had a long and robust career on both the big and small screens.  Born into a show business family (his mother was Mary Martin, a huge star in her day), he endured in a way that few performers ever do. For my money, his finest work ever was in the Blake Edwards comedy "S.O.B.," and...

There are films from late in the great directors' careers which inspire passionate devotion among the more avid fans, films for which excuses have to be made, and films which inspire pained embarrassment. For me, the late films of Blake Edwards sometimes fall into all three camps, but then some of his earlier films do too: Mickey Rooney's enthusiastic personation of Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's must surely cause pangs of discomfort to even the most devoted admirers of Audrey Hepburn.

Sunset (1988) perhaps has the edge on some the films immediately before and after, because it's clearly inspired by real love, not so much of movies or movie people, but what Alan Rudolph has called "movie-ness." Let's unpick that.

The loose and unsatisfying plot involves the 1929 murder of a Hollywood madam at a brothel where the prostitutes are styled to resemble movie stars (cue truly cringe-worthy don't-look-alikes and...

"TCM Remembers 2011" is out. Remembered by Turner Classic Movies are many of those in the film world who left us this past year. As always, this latest "TCM Remembers" entry is a classy, immensely moving compilation. The haunting background song is "Before You Go," by Ok Sweetheart.

Among those featured in "TCM Remembers 2011" are Farley Granger, the star of Luchino Visconti's Senso and Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and Strangers on a Train; Oscar-nominated Australian actress Diane Cilento (Tom Jones, Hombre), formerly married to Sean Connery; and two-time Oscar nominee Peter Falk (Murder, Inc., Pocketful of Miracles, The Great Race), best remembered as television's Columbo. Or, for those into arthouse fare, for playing an angel in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

Also, Jane Russell, whose cleavage and sensuous lips in Howard Hughes' The Outlaw left the puritans of the Production Code Association apoplectic; another Australian performer, Googie Withers, among...

Release Date: Nov. 8, 2011

Price: Blu-ray $24.99

Studio: CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment

Dustin Hoffman (r.) goes native in Little Big Man.

The well-respected 1970 revisionist Western film Little Big Man, directed by Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) and starring Dustin Hoffman (Straw Dogs) and Faye Dunaway (Network), makes its Blu-ray debut under the auspices of Native American Heritage Month.

Stunningly restored so that Harry Stradling Jr.’s amazing cinematography is shown to best effect, the movie follows the life story of Jack Crabb (Hoffman), a white man raised by the Native American Cheyenne tribes. Crabb recounts his life, often comically, through flashbacks of the many historic events he witnessed — including the battle at Little Big Horn led by the egomaniacal General George Custer (Richard Mulligan, S.O.B.) — as the West was won as the bloody result of American imperialism and genocide of Native Americans.

No are on the Blu-ray version of...

Randy asks lots of questions, but only has the answer for one: which wine shall I drink next?

Do vampires really stalk the world after dark? To quote Robert Preston from Blake Edwards’ “S.O.B.,” “Is Batman a transvestite? Who knows?” Don’t look for any definitive answers in The Mark of the Vampire. After the movie is over, your questions will remain and a few new new ones will appear. You’ll wonder “How’d they ever fall for that?” You’ll marvel, “How do they grow those bats so huge in South America?” You’ll cry aloud, “Who shot Bela Lugosi?”

Thanks to some heavy-handed editing, the wound in Lugosi’s head raises more bullet questions than the Zapruder film did. We don’t see how that bullet hole got there or how many gunmen may have been involved. We don’t even know if the man with the umbrella was in the shot.

Life has been less than a jolly holiday for the star of the movie classics Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music since the death of her husband, director Blake Edwards.

"I think every day it's a struggle right now," says Julie Andrews, Edwards' soul mate for 41 years. Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's) died from complications of pneumonia in December. He was 88; Andrews is 75. The two were married and worked together for most of the British actress' five decades in Hollywood.

They first teamed for a big-budget dud, the 1970 musical flop, Darling Lili. Eventually, though, Edwards and Andrews would deliver big-screen successes: the 1979 box-office smash 10, the biting 1981 Hollywood satire S.O.B. and their Oscar-nominated 1982 musical Victor/Victoria - which Andrews called some of the best work in her career. There was also That's Life, which the couple made in 1986, "which was such a joy," she says.

When the news of Blake Edwards’ passing at age 88 broke earlier this month, it stood to reason his obituaries would mandatorily lead off identifying him as the writer/director behind the “Pink Panther” movies and as a “master of sophisticated slapstick comedy.” After all, the “Panther” films may not have been his best work, but, in a career marked by as many flops as hits, they were his most recognized and consistently popular efforts with six films spanning 20 years (excluding 1993’s execrable post-Peter Sellers Son of the Pink Panther).

In the longer obits, it was nice to see his more sophisticated work also remembered like romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), another iconic rom-com for another decade in 10 (1979), his 2/3 brilliant and 100% brutal skewering of Hollywood in S.O.B. (1981), and an early turn at drama with Days of Wine and Roses (1962), still one of the most disturbing portraits of alcoholism in a studio film.

Updated through 12/20.

"Blake Edwards, the veteran writer-director whose films include the Pink Panther comedies, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses and 10 and whose legendary disputes with studio chiefs inspired his scathing Hollywood satire S.O.B. has died. He was 88." Dennis McLellan for the Los Angeles Times: "Edwards, whose collaborations with his wife, Julie Andrews, included the 1982 comedy Victor/Victoria, died of of complications of pneumonia Wednesday evening."...

Mrs & Mrs Blake Edwards (1974)Our heart goes out to the divine Julie Andrews in what is surely a difficult time as her husband the writer/director Blake Edwards passed away a few days ago. We apologize for the delay in honoring him. Edwards was long beloved and praised for his comic sensibilities as a writer and director, most famously within The Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers.

What was less often noted is that he was often responsible for shining a flattering light on actresses, no matter your feelings about him getting Julie out of her clothing. His late career efforts in this realm (Ellen Barkin in Switch and Kim Basinger in Blind Date) weren't as magical as his earlier work but he had a hand in big moments in the careers of Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn and was absolutely crucial to Julie Andrews career.

Blake and Natalie Wood...

Film director best known for the Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany's and 10

The film-maker Blake Edwards, who has died aged 88, will be best remembered as the creator of the Pink Panther films, and as the husband of the entertainer Julie Andrews. But Edwards was a third-generation show-business figure whose complex and controversial career spanned more than 50 years, initially as an actor and writer and subsequently as one of America's most prolific producer-directors, primarily concerned with the popular genres of comedy and musicals and with creating television series.

Despite working in mainstream cinema, his maverick spirit and ego made him an uneasy partner with Hollywood studios. He famously savaged the hand that had fed him so well with S.O.B. (1981), a raucous, vitriolic attack on Tinseltown. His sophisticated work drew strongly on his love of early cinema (his stepgrandfather had directed silent films), and on his own life and psychological problems (he...

Screenwriter, producer and director Blake Edwards, famous for the Peter Sellers Pink Panther film cycle and for the 1979 hit 10, has died of complications in a case of pneumonia at Santa Monica.

Aged 88, Edwards was a powerful force in Hollywood comedies for nearly half a century - though many are surprised to see his name appear in the Audrey Hepburn classic Breakfast At Tiffany's, and other forays into different genres.

Edwards was born into a theatrical and cinematically-oriented family, and started his screenwriting career in Chandler country, churning out humorous detective-genre scripts, which pursuit ultimately led him to create the 'tec series Peter Gunn, the famous theme music to which was scored by Henry Mancini, later to collaborate with Edwards on the Pink Panther movies.

Edwards' greatest screen legacy remains his two-decade collaboration with Peter Sellers on the tales of the inept Inspector Clouseau, beginning with The Pink Panther in 1963. Five sequels followed,...

Today director/screenwriter Blake Edwards died at the age of 88. To those born in the 1980s and upward Edwards is likely a name that won't resonate with their generation, but for the older ones that came of age in the 1960s to the beginnings of the '80s, his movies are remembered. 10 with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. Victor/Victoria with Julie Andrews and which was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar. The creator of The Pink Panther and its hapless hero, Inspector Clouseau. The director of Breakfast at Tiffany's, which gave us the iconic image of a black-gloved Audrey Hepburn holding her fashionably long cigarette holder.

Edwards began his career writing the screenplays for two westerns of the late 1940s, Stampede and Panhandle. He went on to find regular work in the television shows of the 1950s, being a staff writer on The Mickey Rooney Show before selling his...