REMEMBERING TERI GARR: FIVE ROLES THAT WE ADORE

A beloved film presence, Teri Garr has passed away aged 79 after a long, courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis. From her beginnings as a chorus dancer in Elvis Presley films, to a vast resume of television appearances, to a film career peppered with too-few leads and a myriad of perfect character parts, Garr was Hollywood’s ‘ace-in-the-hole’ for over five decades. When a project needed some moments of support-player magic, Teri Garr was as good as the industry has ever known…

In the hours after her passing, her Mr. Mom co-star Michael Keaton wrote, “Forget about how great she was as an actress and comedienne, she was a wonderful woman. Not just great to work with but great to be around. And go back and watch her comedic work; man, was she great! R.I.P., girl.”

We recall our five favourite Teri Garr big screen performances:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Dir: Steven Spielberg; 1977) As ‘Ronnie Neary’, the wife and mother who had to hold the family together as husband Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) succumbed to his UFO obsession, Garr lent on her dramatic acting training at New York’s Lee Strasberg Institute to keep Spielberg’s fantasy epic grounded in its suburban reality and deep emotion. She remains one of the director’s great ‘movie moms’ alongside Goldie Hawn in The Sugarland Express; co-star Melinda Dillon; Lorraine Gary in Jaws; and Dee Wallace in E.T. 

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (Dir: Mel Brooks; 1974) What wasn’t often exploited in most of Teri Garr’s performances (to her credit) is just how damn beautiful she is. When casting the voluptuous lab assistant ‘Inga’, Mel Brooks recognised Garr would not only be able to nail the inspired comedic moments in his script, but also emerge as one of the 70’s most desirable ‘movie stars,’ in a role that called for all that moniker entails. Her line “Vould you like to have a roll in ze hay?” remains a comedy classic.

ONE FROM THE HEART (Dir: Francis Ford Coppola; 1981) Director Francis Ford Coppola had cast Garr in his 1974 paranoia classic The Conversation, opposite Gene Hackman (who she’d reteam with 24 years later for the romance Full Moon in Blue Water) and his 1979 production, The Black Stallion, directed by Carroll Ballard. So great was his faith in the actress, Coppola chose her as the female lead in his mega-budgeted musical One From The Heart, a dark song-and-dance love story that drained the director’s Zoetrope Studios of every penny and goes down as one of the filmmaker’s great follies. Garr, who got to draw on her ballet roots as dreamer/travel-agent ‘Frannie’, is luminous in the film. 

TOOTSIE (Dir: Sydney Pollack; 1982) The Academy finally catches up with what audiences had embraced for the best part of a decade - that Teri Garr is one of the great support stars in Hollywood’s history. She earned her first (unbelievable) and only (also, unbelievable) Oscar nomination, for Supporting Actress in Sydney Pollack’s blockbuster Tootsie. It’s the perfect American comedy, rich with hilarious characterisations deep into the cast list - Hoffman, of course, but also Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, George Gaynes, Charles Durning and Jessica Lange - who took out the coveted trophy. Lange’s very good, of course, but…really?...

AFTER HOURS (Dir: Martin Scorsese; 1985) Full disclosure - After Hours is our favourite Scorsese film, not least because of a dazzling Teri Garr as Julie, the achingly-sweet but also slightly off-kilter romantic whose skills as a portrait artist amps up the late night odyssey in which Griffin Dunne’s Paul finds himself. ‘Julie’ is why Garr in her prime was a Hollywood gemstone; just a few fleeting moments of her presence lit up an entire scene…hell, an entire movie. See also Michael Winner’s Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood (1976); Carl Reiner’s Oh, God! (1977); John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway (1981); and Jim Kouf’s Miracles (1986).

CELEBRATING THE LATE JACQUES HAITKIN, D.O.P.

Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin passed away aged 72 on March 21 2023, leaving behind a legacy of images that helped shape a generation of film fans. Not cinephiles or academics (although they’ve come to appreciate him, too) but film ‘fans’; those that love the visceral thrills, stomach-tightening horrors or giggly chuckles of that unbalanced American cinema that is often ignored or derided as ‘B-movie’ schlock upon release, but which creeps its way to cult status over time. 

Working with masters like Wes Craven, Jack Sholder, Steve de Jarnatt, Larry Cohen, Stewart Raffill and Kevin Connor, the NYC-native Haitkin forged a filmography that provides a wonderful snapshot of ‘80s genre favourites; films that provided repeat-viewing pleasure for the VHS-educated generation of movie watchers. They were often viewed on scratchy rental cassettes, panned-and-scanned to fit square TVs, and only fully appreciated for their skill and craft in restored incarnations. Despite (or perhaps because of) their origins, these are the works that make us love a world seen through the lens of Jacques Haitkin.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE (1985): No one expected Wes Craven’s 1984 high-concept teen-horror pic to be the game-changer it became, but when A Nightmare on Elm Street hit big, the industry asked, ‘How did that happen?’. Many laid the film’s success at the countless iconic images that Haitkin and Craven conjured. The D.O.P. returned for the sequel, under new helmer Jack Sholder; the film would not find immediate favour with audiences or critics, but has grown in stature ever since. (He worked with Craven again on Shocker, in 1989).

THE HIDDEN (1987) and CHERRY 2000 (1987): Haitkin reteamed with Sholder to shoot alien-possession action-thriller The Hidden, one of the late ‘80s most thrilling B-movie experiences. Arguably his most ambitious shoot was alongside Steve de Jarnatt on the dystopian action film Cherry 2000, in which he employed an otherworldly colour palette. These two films, along with his …Elm Street undertakings, are his most popular and enduring works; this professional period also provided such future cult faves as Charlie Loventhal’s My Demon Lover (1987); actor Anthony Perkin’s black comedy/horror, Lucky Stiff (1988); Larry Cohen’s The Ambulance, with Eric Roberts (1990); and, Greg Beeman’s Mom and Dad Save the World (1992), with Teri Garr. 

GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) and THE LOST EMPIRE (1984): There is no avoiding the fact that a couple of Haitkin’s gigs have a ‘bad film’ stink attached to them. But it is also worth pointing out that his ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ projects can’t be faulted for his lensing. Bruce D. Clark’s low-budget Alien riff, Galaxy of Terror, from the production house of the legendary Roger Corman, was rich with BTS talent - Bill Paxton did set decoration; James Cameron, the production designer and 2nd Unit director. Jim Wynorski’s The Lost Empire, an ultra low-budget camp romp made for the booming home video market…well, yeah, it is pretty bad.

THE TIM CONWAY COMEDIES: THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY (1978), THE PRIZE FIGHTER (1979), THE PRIVATE EYES (1980): Haitkin had graduated from NYU Film School and by the mid 1970s, had earned a reputation for being a skilled young cinematographer; his 1972 short, Hot Dogs for Gaugin, shot with director Martin Brest and actor Danny De Vito, earned him a cinematography fellowship at the American Film Institute. Things hit big for Haitkin in 1977-78, when he first shot the ‘blaxploitation’ actioner The Hitter with Ron O’Neal, then scored DOP duties on three old-school comedies starring funnyman, Tim Conway (and TV star thanks to the hit sketch series, The Carol Burnett Show). For co-directors Stuart E. McGowan and Edward Montagne, he lensed the prison-set comedy, They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way. The surprise hit meant Haitkin would be asked to bring his crowd pleasing comedy framing to Conway’s follow-ups, which paired him with fellow ageing clown, Don Knotts - Michael Preece’s boxing pic The Prize Fighter (1979), and Laing Elliott’s UK-set farce, The Private Eyes (1980).

THE T.V. MOVIES: Haitkin moved effortlessly between big- and small-screen work. His TV sector output contains some of his resonant works. His choice of films showed a keen commercial instinct; many reliably sold into the international home video and television markets. Foremost amongst them were The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980), with Robert Hays and Pam Dawber; St. Helens (1981), a large-scale dramatization of America’s volcano disaster; Save the Dog! (1988), starring Cindy Williams; Buried Alive (1990), for young director Frank Darabont and star Jennifer Jason Leigh; the cult horror film Strays! (1991), with Kathleen Quinlan; and, for his old friend Jack Sholder, the chilling true-life shark attack drama, 12 Days of Terror (2004).

THE BEAUTIFUL EYE OF HALYNA HUTCHINS

The death of Ukraine-born cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of the film Rust in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is tragic beyond measure. A young family, including her husband Matthew and their son, have lost a loving mother; her professional community have lost an emerging talent of limitless potential (only 5 percent of the American Society of Cinematographers membership are female). Future generations of filmgoers are left with the stunning images from her 27 credits to date - a remarkable number, given she came to her craft after an early career as a broadcast journalist.

To honour Hutchin's artistry as a DOP, we present a gallery of frames from her features and short films and thoughts collated from the public social media posts of her friends and co-workers...

BLINDFIRE (Dir: Michael Nell; starring Brian Geraghty, Sharon Leal | 2020) A police officer responding to a violent hostage call kills the African American suspect, only to learn of his innocence. Sensing a set-up and facing repercussions, he must track down those responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.

"It is with a sad and heavy heart that I say goodbye to an incredibly talented and wonderful person...I was lucky enough to witness a rising star who was full of passion, creativity, generosity and a love for filmmaking. Her tragic death is a senseless loss and hard too fathom." - Howard Barish, President / Executive Producer of Kandoo Films, makers of Blindside. 

ARCHENEMY (Dir: Adam Egypt Mortimer; starring Joe Manganiello, Amy Seimetz | 2020) Max Fist claims to be a hero from another dimension who fell through time and space to earth, where he has no powers. No one believes his stories except for a local teen named Hamster.

"I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film." - Adam Egypt Mortimer, Director: Archenemy.

TREACLE (Dir: Rosie Westhoff, starring April Kelley, Wilder Yari | 2020) Two friends, Belle and Jessie, go on a weekend away to help Jessie get over a recent breakup. Road tripping through California over the course of 24 hours, lines begin to blur when the always-heterosexual Jessie in her drunken, post breakup loneliness kisses bisexual Belle.

"Halyna was an absolute joy to collaborate with, bursting with unique ideas, and would go above and beyond in achieving them. She was an integral part of what still remains the best experience of my life. Thank you for the memories. The industry has lost the brightest of stars." - April Kelley, writer/star of Treacle

SNOWBOUND (Dir: Olia Oparina, starring Anya Bay | 2017) A group of erotic party attendees wake up naked in the snow. In the nearby cabin they find a dead girl and a message: In order to survive, they must decide who is responsible for the girl's death and murder that person accordingly.

"My best friend passed away. The pain is unbearable, and nothing can fill that space that is now empty without my loving, supportive, and understanding Halyna...Halyna’s shot every one of my films. When no one trusted us with a feature film, Halyna and I teamed up and made our own, for no money, with a crew of friends...My dear ribka, you will always be in my heart." - Olia Oparina, director of Divination (2016); Marcel Red What You Did (2016); I am Normal (2020); Snowbound (2017).

(re)UNITE (Dir: Anak Rabanal | 2018) Can a clinical method to accelerate emotional intimacy begin healing the social rifts exposed by the 2016 Presidential Election one conversation at a time?

"You will be missed and treasured and your legacy lives on not only in your work but in the people you inspired us to be with the way you lived your life — fearlessly and passionately." - Anak Rabanal, director of (re)UNITE.

The America Film Institute has established The Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund, issuing the statement, " As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. At AFI, we pledge to see that Halyna Hutchins will live on in the spirit of all who strive to see their dreams realized in stories well told."

PLEASE DONATE HERE

REMEMBERING RICHARD DONNER

One of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers, Richard Donner has passed away at the age of 91. He leaves behind a body of work that spans both the golden era of television and the ‘birth of the blockbuster’ film period; productions that remain in the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world.

Hollywood is mourning his loss, as Donner was not only a huge creative force but a mentor to a generation of actors and directors. “Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally and, of course, the greatest Goonie of all,” Steven Spielberg told Variety, referencing their collaboration on 1985’s The Goonies. “He was all kid. All heart. All the time. I can’t believe he’s gone, but his husky, hearty laugh will stay with me always.”

Recalling his finest work is a challenge, as he was so prominent across so many years on so many projects. But below are perhaps the works that will be remembered as, ‘classic Richard Donner’...

‘NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET’ Episode; THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1963)
Donner was a key figure in the burgeoning television sector. Beginning with a 1960 episode of the western Zane Grey Theatre, he would helm everything from The Loretta Young Show and Gilligan’s Island to The Rifleman and Perry Mason. His most famous small-screen effort would become the 1963 Twilight Zone classic, ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’, a taut white-knuckler, written by Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, starring William Shatner as the nervous flyer convinced a monster is trying to bring down his flight.

SARAH T. - PORTRAIT OF A TEENAGE ALCOHOLIC (1975)
Donner’s status in the television sector ensured he was called upon during the TV-movie boom of the 1970s. With hundreds of hours of episodic work and such small but respected films as X-15 (1961), Salt & Pepper (1968) and Lola (1970) to his name, Donner stepped up to direct the issues-based drama, Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) with Linda Blair in the title role, for Universal Television.

 

THE OMEN (1976; pictured above, Donner with star Gregory Peck) 
Producer Alan Ladd Jr. shepherded Donner into the project, convinced the predominantly television work of the director captured the intelligence and empathy needed to elevate the ‘devil child’ narrative into something unique. With veteran DOP Gilbert Taylor, Donner embraced the larger screen format and crafted a horror classic that became the director’s first box office blockbuster.

 

SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1977; pictured above, Christopher Reeve and Donner on-set)
Richard Donner attacked his new assignment with gusto after producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind secured the director. Donner hacked away at the script he had inherited, excising much of Mario Puzo’s campiness and working with an uncredited Tom Mankiewicz to bolster the scale and iconography of the DC Comics’ figurehead. Also, it was Donner who worked hardest to secure a reluctant Gene Hackman as ‘Lex Luthor’. Under Richard Donner, Superman became the highest-grossing Warner Bros film in the studio’s history.

 

LADYHAWKE (1985; pictured above, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer in Ladyhawke)
Alongside his 1992 drama Radio Flyer, Ladyhawke is perhaps Donner’s most personal, invested work. The fantasy/romance Ladyhawke stumbled out of the gate at the box-office but has become one of his most beloved films. Lensed by the great Vittorio Storaro and boasting a stunning cast in their photogenic prime (Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick), it was nevertheless a difficult production; Hauer and co-star Leo McKern clashed bitterly, and the remote locations were not suited to a large-scale Hollywood shoot.

THE GOONIES (1985; pictured above, Steven Spielberg, left, on-set with Donner)
Donner shot first-unit footage on this adventure classic; producer Steven Spielberg oversaw second-unit production. The collaboration proved commercial filmmaking gold; The Goonies captured cast lightning in a bottle, hit big with the family audience of the day, and earned generations of fans in its home entertainment afterlife. Upon learning of his passing, Goonies star Sean Astin tweeted, “Richard Donner had the biggest, boomiest voice you could imagine. He commanded attention and he laughed like no man has ever laughed before. Dick was so much fun. What I perceived in him, as a 12 year old kid, is that he cared. I love how much he cared.”

 

LETHAL WEAPON (1987)
In the wake of its goofball sequels, it is largely forgotten that Donner’s original buddy-cop classic beats to a very dark heart; a story centred by a grief-stricken, PTSD sufferer whose dangerous unpredictability and crippling melancholia sees him, in one shocking scene, come within a trigger-finger’s twitch of blowing his own head off. Donner was maturing as a director within the American studio system; with Lethal Weapon, he fearlessly subverted the genre, redefining it for future generations. “I will sorely miss him, with all his mischievous wit and wisdom,” Mel Gibson said, in a press statement, “He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.”

The SCHULER-DONNER Productions
Alongside his beloved wife Lauren Schuler (already a Hollywood force with hits Mr Mom, Pretty in Pink and St Elmo’s Fire to her name when she paired with her husband professionally), Donner’s integrity and commercial flair came through in his work as producer. Under their Schuler Donner banner, the couple oversaw Three Fugitives (1989), Free Willy (1993) and its sequels; Kevin Kline in Dave (1993); Bulworth (1998), with Warren Beatty; the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romancer, You’ve Got Mail (1998); Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999); and, the vast X-Men franchise, starting with Bryan Singer’s 2000 original.

VALE MIKE MCPADDEN

Alternative culture fans the world over are grieving the passing of one of the great voices of the underground, Mike ‘McBeardo’ McPadden. The author, podcaster and commentator, a beloved advocate for art that challenged conformity, left us on Wednesday 16th. The cause of death is unknown at this time; he was 52.

The outpouring of shock and grief was immediate when news of McPadden’s sudden passing emerged via social media. His publisher at Bazillion Points, Ian Christe, boke the news, stating “With this guy goes an unrivaled wealth of first-hand experience with the gritty NYC movie scene circa 1982...It's crushing to wrap my head around the loss.” Author and friend Lee Gambin posted, “I'd known Mike for a long time and he and I shared a lot of the same passions and loves, and that is something I will treasure forever.”  

The Brooklyn-born McPadden spent his youth in the grindhouse fleapits and revival houses of 1980s New York City, a lifestyle that fuelled his passionate love for and encyclopedic knowledge of genre cinema. He honed his early writing skills in the offices of adult magazines Genesis, High Society and Screw; he became Entertainment Editor at Hustler, working alongside legendary publisher Larry Flynt. His connection to the adult sector extended to screenwriting, having worked with director Gregory Dark in the mid ‘90s on such films as Devil in Miss Jones 5: The Inferno and Animal Instincts III: The Seductress. (Pictured, right; a youthful McPadden on the NYC cinema strip) 

He began self-publishing with a stream-of-consciousness punk bar newsletter called The Downtown Beirut Top 10 List. This led to his iconic culture ‘zine’, Happyland, which he once referred to as, “your standard Xerox-and-staples hate zine of the ‘90s”, written from the point-of-view of a life “getting fucked up, taking drugs, going to the movies on 42nd Street, going to see bands, and making fun of people”. He often wrote under the pseudonym ‘Selwyn Harris’, named after the last two theatres from his old district to have remained open. In 2003, he relocated to Chicago to become Head Writer for the Mr. Skin website. His work would also be published in The New York Express, Vice, VH1 and Merry Jane, amongst many others. 

McPadden would draw upon those formative years in the Time Square theatres to author the acclaimed books Heavy Metal Movies: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big-Scream Films Ever! (2014) and Teen Movie Hell: A Crucible Of Coming-Of-Age Comedies From Animal House to Zapped! (2019), both considered classics of B-movie academia. Inspired by Danny Perry’s ‘Cult Movies’ book series of the early ‘80s and editor Zack Carlson’s 2010 essay compilation Destroy All Movies, McPadden crafted a pair of mammoth works that encapsulate two cinematic sub-genres.

In recent years, the booming podcast movement had allowed Mike McPadden to further enhance his standing as both a film historian and wonderfully engaging personality. Paired with University of Wisconsin’s Ben Reiser, 70 Movies We Saw in The ‘70s is a heartfelt retrospective series that allowed McPadden to draw deep from memories of his most passionate movie-going years (24 episodes); in Crackpot Cinema, McPadden would be joined by the likes of actor Pat Healy and producer Aaron Lee to playfully recall some of cinema’s stranger achievements (29 episodes); and, with Diabolique editor Kat Ellinger, the comedy celebration Busted Guts (2 episodes). Read her heartfelt tribute to her friend here. His work in the podcast field extended to social media director on the hit show Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast and contributor for Crimefeed. 

His razor-sharp wit and ability to instantly recall filmmaking anecdotes also made McPadden one of the most in-demand DVD audio commentators. His observations can be heard on such releases as Amazon Women on the Moon, Let’s Kill Uncle, Private School, Adjust Your Tracking, Jeremy, My Science Project, Shadow of the Hawk and the South Korean teen romp Sex is Zero.

Mike McPadden is survived by his wife, Rachel and young family. A GoFundMe campaign has been established and we encourage you to contribute.