The Grand Budapest Hotel

Like so many others, I am a huge Wes Anderson fan.  I must admit, I am not as excited about The Grand Budapest Hotel as I was for Moonrise Kingdom. The good news is that more people will read Stefan Zweig because of it.

Here is today's pressing question.  Was Elaine Stritch unavailable to play Madame D.?

UPDATE: The post would make more sense if the photos were visible!

How to be a Movie Producer...

...without even trying.


Have you ever wanted to be a movie producer but life got in your way?

Maybe you don't live in New York City or L.A.  (Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama.)

Maybe you don't have 50 million or 50 hundred. (But you do have $5 tucked into your pocket.)

Well do not despair.  Add that movie producer credit to your bucket list and head over to Kickstarter.

As you know, Kickstarter is a place where small projects can get big funding from some rich folks and poor folks like you (or me).  The Winding Stream got the money for their initial filming from Kickstarter and now they are working on the post-production.  (Truth is, they have accomplished their goal and their fundraising technically ends today.)


The Winding Stream is Beth Harrington's detailed documentary about the Carter Family.  While most of the general population knows the Carter Family because of Johnny Cash.  If it hadn't been for the Carter Family, Johnny Cash might have slipped into obscurity and much of the music we hear every day would be sadly lacking without the original inspiration from Maybelle, Sara and A.P. Carter.    Please take look at the preview of MY film...

Now head over to Kickstarter and find a project that you can be a part of.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan

One of my favorite movies is Dusan Makavejev's Montenegro. Montenegro is a slightly soft-core pastiche of Ingmar Bergman films. It is Susan Anspach's best work. Many people, including Vincent Canby, felt it might just make her a star. As far as I know, Montenegro was her last film.

The Cliff Notes version: Bored housewife (Anspach) with lovely kids, a Swedish husband and a big house meets Yugoslavian immigrants at the airport and becomes drawn to their gypsy life.

In 1981, the movie was the first "comedy" screened at Cannes. I wouldn't say it was a comedy, in fact at times it is rather sad. Still, I have always loved the film. It ends with Marianne Faithful's haunting rendition of The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan was written by Shel Silverstein.

Shel Silverstein wrote quite a few memorable songs and they have recently been compiled into a tribute album, Twistable Turnable Man.

Twistable Turnable Man features Lucinda Williams covering The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.

I have been listening to the CD, endlessly. I think The Ballad of Lucy Jordan was never covered because Marianne Faithful's version is just so poignant. Lucinda Williams gives it her best shot, but hear-to-head, I thing Marianne wins. That being said, I love the CD.

Both Twistable Turnable Man and Montenegro are available on Amazon. Montenegro, alas, is not available on Netflix, so you will have to score a nice used copy or you can come to Shirley and we will watch it together.