Tag Archives: duel
An Interview with Director and Actress Joan Darling, Pioneer of the 70’s
Joan Darling (bottom left), part of the cast of Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (1971-1973)
Joan Darling entered show business as an actress on the New York theater scene in the 1960s, then became a fixture of early 70’s television. In 1974, she made the leap from acting to directing and quickly made history as one of the first and most successful women directors in television. She had an instant knack for it—her debut, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a soap opera parody, has become an enduring cult classic for its dark-edged humor and deep understanding of the desperation and sadness of the American home.
Highlights of her career include a Mary Tyler Moore episode, Chuckles Bites the Dust, which, for its deft tightrope-walk between comedy and pathos, TV Guide calls the greatest television episode ever; a classic M*A*S*H episode, The Nurses, which revolutionized the way the show portrayed women; and a leading role in an episode of The Psychiatrist, directed by a pre-Jaws, pre-Duel Spielberg.
These days, Joan teaches acting and directing classes at the Sundance Filmmakers Lab. She agreed to a phone interview, and in about an hour, I learned more about the arts of acting and directing than I ever thought possible:
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Posted in All Posts, John's Interviews
Tagged amazing stories, amazing stories the sitter, amazing stories what if, chuckles bites the dust, clu gulager, dorothy arzner, duel, elaine may, first love 1977, first love film, first love movie, georgette's wedding, golda meir, grant tinker, homeland, hot lips, how to direct the actor, ida lupino, jaws, jim brooks, joan darling, joan darling actress, joan darling director, joan darling interview, john damico, kevin spacey, lesli glatter, louise lasser, magnum p.i., margaret hot lips houlihan, margaret houlihan, marisa tomei, mary hartman, mary hartman mary hartman, mary tyler moore, mash, mash hot lips, mash the nurses, michael moore, mike nichols, my cousin vinny, normal lear, owen marshall, owen marshall: counselor at law, par for the course, play it as it lays, rich man poor man, roger corman, roseanne, scandal, second city, shelley duvall, sid sheinberg, smug film, smugfilm, steven spielberg, sundance filmmakers lab, supermom's daughter, the mary tyler moore show, the nurses, the psychiatrist
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An (Imaginary) Interview with Steven Spielberg
I’m not really sitting with you right now, Steven Spielberg, but I want to be. There’s really nothing I could think of that would be more of an achievement. To be honest, I don’t think about your movies enough anymore, and I don’t reference you enough in my pieces on this site. It’s because talking about you is kind of old hat. You are unequivocally the most successful, and the most household name-y of any movie director in history. You created my childhood, and millions upon millions of other childhoods. Your name had as much market value in the 80s and 90s as McDonald’s and Reebok. (I made that last sentence up but it sounds real!)
So anyway, yeah, I’m sitting here (not really) with the most iconic living legend filmmaker of all time, Steven Spielberg:
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Posted in All Posts, Greg's Interviews
Tagged 1941, always, amblin', amistad, animaniacs, back to the future, batteries not included, brian de palma, buffalo 66, catch me if you can, catherine zeta jones, dr. strangelove, duel, fake henrik zetterberg, greg deliso, holly hunter, indiana jones, indiana jones 4, james fargo, john goodman, jurassic park, jurassic park 2, leonardo dicaprio, martin scorsese, matt stone, saving private ryan, schindler's list, smug film, smugfilm, steven spielberg, steven spielberg interview, sugarland express, the goonies, the lost world, the matrix, the sugarland express, the terminal, three o'clock high, trey parker, universal studios
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My First Feature Film Is Almost Done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHahJ_OYmz0
I’ve told this story a billion times so this time I’m going to try to include some more details. When my late grandpa, Tom Easton, was ten years old, he saw Fantasia in the theater. He always wanted to be a cartoonist but his dad was cold and distant and thought cartoons were for kids and no way to make a living. But despite that lack of encouragement, Tom did some cool things. He avoided combat in the Korean War by teaching art on base and drawing army posters.
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Posted in All Posts, Greg's Essays
Tagged 100 best movies of all time, adam mckay, afi, afi 100 best movies, back to the future, close encounters of the third kind, david way, duel, freddy got fingered, greg deliso, hectic knife, indiana jones, indiegogo, james earl jones, jaws, jurassic park, kill bill, king kong, peter litvin, plan 9 from outer space, raising arizona, rob fortucci, robert mckee, roger ebert, signs, smug film, smugfilm, star wars, steven spielberg, syd field, the velvet autumn, tobe hooper, tom easton, tom green, tremors, wet hot maerican summer, will ferrell
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