What the hell is a Blog?: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

24 Hours with Bill

My Blogathon 2006 theme was a tribute to the legendary William Holden, as a way to raise money for The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, and I made it, raising over $100 US, and earning the distinction of “Hot Blog” on the Blogathon surfer frame. The blog posts included reviews of Holden’s films, snippets of his bio, and information on how animals in Kenya are being saved and protected by the conservancy.

Just so they do not go to waste, here are links to all 51 posts created for Blogathon 2006, and a link to this post will go onto the sidebar.

Some of them have been edited a bit since they were first posted, but all of them were written fresh for the event during my 24 hour trial. I had a great time, and I hope I can participate next year (though I have no idea what my theme could be… Another 24 Hours With Bill Holden…?)

William Holden Blogathon 2006 Post Index:

Mostly these are here as a time capsule, but some of them are pretty good, espeically the reviews. Enjoy!
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Final Thank You to Our Sponsors:

Blogathon 2006 was an awesome challenge, and great fun. Thanks...

My great financial backers:
Running42K
John H.
Anonymous (you know who you are)
Chris Z.
Gemini730
Heather S.
Marjie K.
Mark
The H. Family
Sunshine

So far, I have verified $77 (USD) in pledges, which is 77% of my goal. A few of you out there have spoken to me about pledging, but just have not gotten around to it, yet. That’s fine, as you have tomorrow to do it, as well.

Just go: Sponsor Me!

I have a feeling I may break that goal line.

UPDATE: PLEDGES ARE NOW UP TO $112!
I can't believe I actually broke $100!
THANKS!

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Also, I thank Iris Hunt and the folks at the Mount Kenya Animal Conservancy who gave me their blessing to blog on behalf of their organization, and the Blogathon people, who let us participate.

Thanks also to Amanda, Murph, Kathryn, Will, my monitors, all my visitors/commenters, and, especially Team Shabbat 2006 for moral support, and to Murph and Katie for technical support.

Thanks to EVERYBODY, as you have made this a very memorable experience.
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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Answers to the Trivia Questions:

Q: Name THREE television programs William Holden appeared on.
A: I Love Lucy; What’s My Line; The Tonight Show; The Dean Martin Show; The Jack Benny Program; The Colgate Comedy Hour; Producers’ Showcase; Toast of the Town; The Mike Douglas Show

Q: For what film did William Holden finally win his Oscar, and in what year?
A: Stalag 17 (1953) in 1954

Q: For what two roles was William Holden nominated for Oscars that went to someone else, for what films, in what years, and what were the categories? (Bonus: Who won instead?)
A: Network (1976), Max Schumacher, Best Actor in a Leading Role. (Went to Peter Finch, instead, also for Network.)
Sunset Boulevard (1950), Joe Gillis, Best Actor in a Leading Role. (Went to Jose Ferrer instead, for Cyrano.)

Q: What two films starring William Holden were both up for Best picture in 1950?
A: Born Yesterday and Sunset Boulevard

Q: What was William Holden’s birth name, and where/when was he born?
A: William Franklin Beedle, Jr.; April 17, 1918; O’Fallon, Illinois.

Q: With what studio did William Holden first sign a contract?
A: Paramount

Q: What are five films starring William Holden and set in Asia, what years were they made, and in which Asian country were they set?
A: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955, Hong Kong); The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955, Korea & Japan); The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, Thailand); Satan Never Sleeps (1962, China); The World of Suzie Wong (1960, Hong Kong); When Time Ran Out… (1980, unnamed South Pacific island?); The 7th Dawn (1964, Malaya)

Q: Which Canadian band wrote the lyrics: “I need love and it's you, and I feel like William Holden floating in a pool”?
A: Blue Rodeo

Q: What was unusual about William Holden’s Oscar acceptance speech and roughly how long was it?
A: It consisted of two words, "Thank you," and lasted well under half a minute.

Q: True or False: In Suzanne Vega’s song “Tom's Diner” the lines “I open up the paper/there's a story of an actor/who died while he was drinking/he was no one I had heard of” refer to William Holden.
A: True.

Q: For what film did William Holden demand, and receive, an extra $8000 stunt fee for having to follow through with an embarrassing dance scene and why did he charge so much?
A: Picnic (1955); according to legend, Holden hated to dance on camera so much that he hoped the extra fee would cause Columbia to drop the dance number.

Q: True or false: William Holden almost lost a nipple having his chest shaved for a scene in Paris – When it Sizzles (1964).
A: False. Unconfirmed rumour has it that he had a nipple nicked getting his chest shaved for his shirtless scenes in Picnic (1955) when the studio decided that hairy chests were no longer pleasing to modern aesthetics. However, Paris – When it Sizzles has no extended shirtless scenes, with nipple or without.

Q: In his later years, William Holden divided his time between which three countries?
A: Kenya, Switzerland, United States.

Q: What film starred William Holden and was directed by Clint Eastwood?
A: Breezy (1973)

Q: Give the film titles that match with the following William Holden characters:

Joe Gillis (Sunset Boulevard, 1950)
J.J. Sefton (Stalag 17, 1953)
Harry Brubaker (Bridges at Toko-Ri, 1955)
Max Schumacher (Network, 1975)
Robert Lomax (The World of Suzie Wong, 1960)
Alvarez Kelly (Alvarez Kelly, 1966)
David Larrabee (Sabrina, 1954)
Pike Bishop (The Wild Bunch, 1969)
George Gibbs (Our Town, 1940)
Richard Thorn (Damien: The Omen II, 1978)

Q: Give the films and the professions of the following William Holden characters:

Frank Harmon (Breezy, 1973; real estate agent)
Robert Lomax (The World of Suzie Wong, 1960; artist)
Mark Elliott (Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, 1955; correspondent)
Paul Verrall (Born Yesterday, 1950; reporter/tutor)
Richard Benson (Paris – When it Sizzles, 1964; screenwriter)

Q: What were the two TV movies that stared William Holden, and for which did he pick up an Emmy?
A: The Blue Knight (1973, Emmy) and 21 Hours at Munich (1976)

1981

In 1980, William Holden made his last film, SOB, which was oddly full-circle with Sunset Boulevard. It too explored the use and abuse in Hollywood.

In October of 1981, another of his depressive episodes hit, this time likely precipitated by the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who Bill believed could bring some peace to the Middle East crisis. The senseless waste and the horror of what might have been sickened his humanitarian sensibilities. Drink made things worse.

William closed himself up in his Santa Monica apartment which served as a pied a Terre when he was in the area. Friends worried, but he refused all company. On November 16, 1981, friends, concerned over Bill’s continued absence, urged the building manager to search the apartment.

William Holden, Hollywood’s 63-year-old Golden Boy, was found dead, alone, with a collection of discarded vodka bottles around him. He had fallen against a night stand and cut a two inch gash in his forehead. The coroner’s report claimed he had been too drunk to call for help, but had he done so he would have survived. Friends of Bill have wondered otherwise. What if Bill, sickened by his own continual back-slide into alcoholism, had been too proud to call for help?

What ever the case may be, the death of William Holden was a tragedy, made even worse by the fresh promise his career had started to show, and by the squalid circumstances of it all. The curse of the Golden Boy had finally taken its final toll.

William Holden was cremated and his ashes were spread over the Pacific ocean.

Of his life and his death, one of his oldest friends in Hollywood, Billy Wilder, said:

“Here was a most successful man who virtually abandons his profession to take care of endangered species. He does not care for himself, indeed he kills himself. What he didn’t realize was that he himself was an endangered species: the beautiful American.”

Yes. The beautiful American.

Beautiful in face and morals, but weak in so many ways.

But loved by many.

William Franklin (Beedle) Holden
Actor, entrepreneur, conservationist.
April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981.

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The Wild Bunch (1969)

I picked up The Wild Bunch on DVD merely because it stared William Holden, who I knew primarily from Sabrina and Sunset Boulevard. Wow. Was I in for a shock! Violent, depressing and faintly reprehensible, I did not understand what to make of it.

The first time I watched it, I went outside for a smoke afterwards, and almost bawled.

The second time I watched it, I laughed straight through.

Now, I get a good mixture, and I am always pleased and energized by what I see. (Even right now, after hours and hours of blogging, all traces of tiredness is gone – you can tell why I chose to watch it so late in my blogathon!)

In all honesty, there are a few films in this world that we, if we travel around the celluloid universe enough, may be privileged to know on intimate basis. These films, the special ones, are not like anything else, ever. Films are like people – come of them defy all comparisons. For me, The Wild Bunch is one of these pieces.

It is both violent and anti-violence. It is both over-the-top and realistic. It is both vulgar and poetic. It is the crassest of entertainment, and the finest of art.

And as for Bill, The Wild Bunch gave me something special. It showed me a William Holden who, like Pike, was bowed but not broken. He holds a health and a vigour here that seemed gone from him in the 60s. The Wild Bunch marks the end of Holden’s second dry spell (the first being just after WWII) and the beginning of his new phase: As distinguished elder statesman of Hollywood cinema.

All this and more, The Wild Bunch gave to me. I cannot recommend it highly enough. You may not love it, or even like it, but you’ll probably never forget it.

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Why Not!

The final scenes of The Wild Bunch are a triumph of excess.

Angel, their young partner, has been taken prisoner by Mapache. Pike is tested: How close to death do have to go to discharge your duty to your partners? The gang is trapped. The bounty hunters are coming up behind, so the only place to go is into Mapache’s den where they have to witness the brutal torture of their former partner. They can be scoundrels and avail themselves of the booze, shelter and whores while their partner dies, or they can go out like men…

The final departure of the Bunch is one that few viewers ever forget, and, incredibly, it was one that Peckinpah built out of no more than three or four lines of script. As written, Pike, the Gorches and Dutch (Borgnine) walk into the General’s banquet and a gun battle ensues. What actually shows up on the screen is a masterpiece of luxurious suspense and emotion. These are men who, with the battle cry of “Why not?,” have made the decision to walk themselves into certain death… partially because there really isn’t much more to live for. Partially because of their code. And partially because, after all the whoring and drinking and evading capture, what more can they do to entertain themselves? They are spent cartridges, and they know it.

As the actors walked through the dirt road, Peckinpah built the scene from imagination. Add a few gambling soldiers here, a cluster of drunken singers there. A few scared women holding children. By layering the activities of extra groups, and my having only the slightest of response quiver through the crowd as the heavily-armed old-timers cross into the courtyard, Peckinpah has created one of the coolest sequences ever filmed. And he did it out of nothing but air and atmosphere!

There is a beautiful moment when, after the object of their fight has been resolved, everyone freezes. It becomes clear to them and to us that they could just leave if they wanted to. But, with a smile of childlike play, Pike refuses the offer to walk, and what unravels from there is a timeless scene of waste and destruction.

Yet, in the end, there may not be hope exactly, but there is some assurance that the gang will keep going. The remaining members are weak, old and facing fewer days than they have passed, but as long as there is a saddle and trail to travel, there will always be some remnant of the Wild Bunch, even if they are getting pushed further and further away by the modern world.

The End.

Let’s Go

Remember that phrase, “Let’s Go.” It becomes a mantra as the film progresses.

The train robbery and the collapsed bridge of The Wild Bunch…? What can you say about such marvels of modern movie making? Marvelous. Simply wonderful. The whole series of events are perfect, and even the physical responses of the men when their horses react to the explosion is flawless to a tee. It doesn’t get much better than this, folks. Honest.

We’re running out of time in a bad way, so I won’t pause to say more. I’ll just leave it as expressions of awe.

To be continued…

We’ve Got to Think Beyond Our Guns

We have just seen one of the most shockingly violent openings of any movie ever made. Who are these men, the Wild Bunch? Are we meant to see them as heroes? How can we, after they have participated in the massacre of a whole town? Any heroism they may have had was lost the moment Pike stopped to remove a shredded piece of a trampled woman’s petticoat from his stirrup.

And for what? A few sacks of washers.

Thornton (Robert Ryan) was once Pike’s partner. He road with them, but he was taken prisoner and sent to prison. Now he helps the railway find Pike, so he can stay out of prison. Here we have two conflicting honour systems. Does a man, as Pike says, stand beside the men he stands with, come what may, in some sort of thieves’ code of behaviour? Or does a man stick by his word, even if he gave it to the impersonal railway, and even if the word is to deliver the dead body of his former partner?

We are as confused as Pike, as he tries to defend both positions as aspects of the old Western code of conduct. However, we, and possibly he, knows that the two positions can’t be reconciled.

But yet, lame and growing old, Pike must defend both positions, for honour and dignity are the only things he has left… And they are certainly the last things keeping him in control of his gang, especially the sadistic Gorch Brothers, who cross into a realm of cruelty that even Pike can’t fully condone.

The violence of the failed robbery gives into the peace of the gang’s night at Angel’s village in Mexico. This is, we are aware, the moral center of the film.

Here we see a gang who is just as quick to laugh and empathize as they are to kill and rob. They are men, but the cruel children within them still seeks some joy in their barren and rootless lives. They all seek the last score that will pay for their retirement, but they are also starting to realize that there really isn’t anything to retire to. There is no home, no family, no land. Only the wounds they have gathered. Their night in Angel’s village represents everything they have lost, and they fling themselves into the peoples’ warmth like starving men.

And they begin to consider themselves not just as selfish individuals, but as relative. They rob and kill, but are they, murderers though they are, the same as the general Mapache who terrorizes the village?

And here also enters the real and figurative threat of Mapache, the specter haunting the movie, who will become the crucial antagonist as their enemies create a second front: Railway bounty hunters at the back; Mapache to the front. Enemies close them in physically, just as time and change closes them on a larger scale. This is seen by the fact that they see Mapache and their first automobile at the same time.

To be continued…

If They Move, Kill Em.

With those harsh, brutal and strangely seductive words, William Holden, his face lined and haggard, opens The Wild Bunch. The frame freezes, turning the colour of granite, and the name of SAM PECKINPAH is branded on the screen. Peckinpah, a director of skill and vision, was on the outs with Hollywood before The Wild Bunch. This was to be his big comeback.

Throughout the credits we have watched a group of army men on horse back travel into a dusty town, passed laughing children enjoying their game – of torturing scorpions and ants to death (a game suggested by actor Emilio Fernandez, who plays Mepache later in the film).

These men, who are not really army men, but outlaws, make ever so brief an eye contact with the children. We may not know it yet, but we will soon realize that these outlaws are like these children. Killing is a game, for every person wants to recapture the joy of play. That is what this movie tells us – one person’s game is another person’s pain.

The Temperance Union, with their parsimonious preaching and hymns, go on preaching to the choir. They are bailing out the ocean with a tea cup, and they are swelled with pride. They are a gang too, like the Wild Bunch… The only difference is that they don’t see their time coming to an end.

In 1968, William Holden was already a confirmed alcoholic, but in The Wild Bunch he seems more together, healthier and more on target than in any of his other films in the 1960s. Perhaps this was because his doctor would only allow him beer. (One story shows Holden suddenly letting out a whoop and tossing up an empty beer bottle during a poker game. When questioned, he answered, “I’ve been drinking this stuff steady for weeks, and I think I may actually, finally be drunk!”) Whatever it was, Holden presents such a power and statesman-like dignity in The Wild Bunch, we can easily see why he has become the leader of this group. He is the patriarch.

A word about the versions of The Wild Bunch. When The Wild Bunch opened in July of 1969, the audiences, studio and critics had no idea what to do with such a thing. That July was the last time the full, as edited by the director, version saw the light of day. The film was shortened from its 144 minutes. Yes, the film was violent, but it was not gun fighting scenes that were removed, but the dramatic flashback scenes that allow the audience to understand the men we are watching. Under no circumstances would I recommend buying or watching the cut version of The Wild Bunch. A newly restored version was released on DVD and home video in 1997, much to the relief of film critics and historians, who had begun to value the inspiration reflected by this movie.

Now Showing

I earned my treat. It is now 20 hours into my Blogathon. My shoulders, elbows and wrists are seized up with some sort of premature elderly ache. My eyes hurt, and I am dead tired. Now it is time to settle down and have my reward. Tonight I am watching The Wild Bunch (1969), and I hope, if you have managed to snag a copy, that you will watch it with me. I will hopefully provide a little insight into the making, meaning and significance of this fantastic film.

The Wild Bunch is the story of five old-timers out to make their last score, while they evade the rough justice of the railway company’s henchmen. But the Wild Bunch has an even worse enemy. Time and progress. The story takes place in 1918; A Revolution is sweeping Mexico, WWI is in the air, and automobiles have started to make inroads into the Wild West. Old gangs like Pike Bishop (a terrifically healthy yet worn 50-year-old William Holden) and his crew are becoming slowly outmoded. It is time they begin to think beyond their guns, but the times are leaving them in the dust. Ultimately, The Wild Bunch is a story of loss and of the meaning (or lack thereof) of life. Further, as a film, it represents Hollywood’s new take on the Western, a genre once filled with bloodless killings, but which could no longer fly in a decade that brought the Vietnam conflict, in full colour, into their living rooms.

It is also a story of a director, and a star, both men of bygone times, both struggling to make one last hit to go out on.

So I’d be pleased if you’d join me, as we spend some time extra time to comb over one of William Holden’s greatest achievements, a film not well understood in its day, but one which numerous critics today consider one of the essential American films.

Enjoy!

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A Dash of Daring, a Cup of Cool

What makes a Star?

Repeatedly throughout this tribute to William Holden, I have called him a star… No, I have called him a Star. Somehow, not capitalizing it seemed wrong. And I know that I am correct. William Holden was and is one of the truly monumental Stars of the last century and of the history of the Silver Screen. Why is that, I ask myself. It can’t just be talent, as many talented people don’t Make It. It can’t just be looks. So why is William Holden a Star?

It helps to think of an anecdote once offered by a Paramount exec, when asked about William Holden’s charisma. He said that, when they tested him with audiences, they watched the people not the screen. Every blasted time Holden smiled, every single member of the audience (male, female, young, old) smiled right back at him. That was the pull of the young Star; he made the audience feel what he wanted them to feel. In fact, he withheld their right to control their own feelings. He was a Star because of his effects.

He was also a Star because of his qualities. William Holden was one of the last members of a dying breed. He was boyish, manly, healthy and sexy all at once, but he always appeared gentle, and radiated a gallantry. William Holden was one of the last American knights. When he acted, you felt honesty. Sometimes it hurt he seemed so honest.

William Holden is a Star of his own. There is no (and nor is there likely to be) a "new William Holden." He was All-American in the mode of Denzel Washington. He had the cynicism of Kevin Spacey. He had the box office staying power of Harrison Ford. He had the corruptible innocence of Joaquin Phoenix. William Holden was all of these things, and, yes, he was attractive. But, it is in his unique and astounding mix that his Star power resides.

He is all things, so he both reflects us and is the stick by which we measure ourselves. William Holden was a Star not merely because of his essence, but also because of his function.

William Holden is a Star because he was born one. Further, he was a Star because he burned too bright, because, in the end, isn’t a Star also defined by the rate at which it burns up its resources? And Holden burned bright. This no one can deny.

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Trivia Challenge the Fifth

And we have the FINAL William Holden Trivia Challenge of the Blogathon. For two points per character, give the films and the professions of the following William Holden characters:

1. Frank Harmon
2. Robert Lomax
3. Mark Elliott
4. Paul Verrall
5. Richard Benson

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Anyone for The Wild Bunch?

One and a half more hours (5.30pm PST/ 8.30pm EST) until we start our virtual reality showing of The Wild Bunch (1969), Peckinpah’s American western classic (hopefully in the newly restored version), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Truly, one of the greatest American films ever made, though be warned: It is not for the faint of heart. It is a violent and often grim film, but sparked with brilliant moments of humour, and with a strong code of ethics.

So, if you track one down, buy, borrow or rent a copy of The Wild Bunch, let me know you’re in on it, and AIM me, if you can, at hollysvengali, and via AIM and/or comments and/or email (hollyblogger AT yahoo.ca), we will proceed to enjoy and discuss this important film that changed American cinema.

Also, as we wind down our blogathon, don’t forget to Sponsor Me! if you can, and help support the wildlife that was so near and dear to William Holden’s heart.

Picnic (1955)

It is a southern town, where the main industries include grain and the shipping of grain. A handsome stranger strolls into town, with nothing but his ragged clothes on his back, and his daddy’s boots. This is Hal Carter (William Holden), the aging former-big-man-on-campus, now turned scoundrel and tramp. He has hopes of finding his fortune through the assistance of an old college friend (Cliff Robertson), because, as he grinds out, he’s gotta make it somewhere in life. The old friend can help, but can Carter resist not betraying his friend and his hopes by stealing his friend’s steady girl (Kim Novak)?

What do you bet?

Yes, Picnic is, above all things, a sweltering little summer melodrama that takes place, you guessed it, at the town picnic, as the mamas and the kids all sit and fan themselves, waiting for the fair beauty queen to be chosen. However, like many good American melodramas, beneath the simple and lovely exterior lies a seedier layer, in which every one is silently tearing at their own skin in frustration over how their life is unfolding before their eyes, almost without their control.

And, on this hot sultry night, Hal becomes the boiling point for the frustrations of the whole town. The beauty queen who just wants out, the rich boy who always wanted to be charming, the town smart-girl (the engaging Susan Strasberg) who just wants to be sexy for one night. The local school marm (brilliantly played by Rosalind Russell) who just wants one last taste of lust and freedom before her youth completely escapes her.

Picnic is packaged and marketed in a deceptively simple and light-hearted way (horrifyingly like a romance novel), but it is not the wisest bet for a cheerful night in. Sublimated violence, the objectification of beauty, sexual persecution, angers of all sorts… These are the things that lie under the surface in this movie, and in the town… And no doubt in a million towns just like it, then and now.

Quite unique in its way, the atmosphere of alienation and relativism is thick. Is it wrong to run away with a drifter? Is it right? Does it even matter at all?

Aside from its attractive set design and its beautiful cast, Picnic is an unusual film, but one which rewards discerning eyes who give it a go.

Want to Learn More?

If this Holdenathon Extravaganza has left you wanting to know more about William Holden, he may be as close as your public library, your video store, or your computer. Here is a quick and dirty guide to some of the best materials available for gaining a casual knowledge about the life and works of Bill Holden.

In terms of biographies, there is one standard book. Bob Thomas’ Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden (St. Martin’s Press, 1983) was written while the world still reeled from Holden’s untimely and well-publicized 1981 death. It is a good standard rendition of the life story, with a good wealth of anecdotal and small details, such as how he held his cigarettes and why, and the unknown details behind the films. The bio is, naturally, heavily preoccupied with Holden’s alcoholism, but it is not severely flawed too far that way.

For a personal look at Kenya through the eyes of Holden himself, see his introduction to William Holden’s Journey Through Kenya, edited by Mohamed Amin, et al (Bodley Head, 1982).

There are many documentaries that feature or mention Bill Holden, including several available on the better DVD editions of his films. However, the A&E Biography series documentary, “William Holden: An Untamed Spirit,” is a solid illustrated piece, and is available as a special feature on the Love is a Many-Splendored Thing 20th Century Fox Studio Classics DVD, released in 2003.

By way of web pages, I was surprised at the relatively small presence Holden had on the web. There is, of course, the William Holden Wildlife Foundation site, which does contain William Holden information, and Wikipedia, as well as a few choice fan pages (most of which can be found on The Golden Years links page). If you find yourself getting more and more into Bill Holden, consider making a tribute page. Again, this is a name that needs to be remembered.

And finally, by way of film recommendations for someone unfamiliar with Holden’s work, I have tried to give you reviews and glimpses throughout this tribute. You can also find quite a few trailers at Video Detective. However, I will re-state that the big ones have to be Sunset Boulevard (1950), Stalag 17 (1952), The Wild Bunch (1969), and Network (1976). Once you are familiar with this core set of works, I certainly encourage you to fan out from there.

Happy hunting, and I hope I have been able to share with you a small bit of the fascination I carry for William Holden, one of my picks for the great Stars of all times.

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Breezy (1973)

Director Clint Eastwood’s Breezy (1973) focuses on the unexpected and unorthodox love affair that arises between a middle-aged, divorced real estate broker named Frank Harmon (Holden) and an open flower child by the name of Breezy (Kay Lenz). It takes us through the expected paths of Hollywood: will he adopt her; will they have just sex and part; will they live happily ever after. Let’s face it, in such narratives, any which way is possible.

Set aside for the moment all the midlife crisis bull, and the bitterness towards older men who date younger women. Also, let us discard our modern hatred of hippy film “theme songs” of yesterday. Finally, forget how more glossy pictures have gotten you used to “teens” that haven’t seen that side of twenty in a dozen years, and realize that this girl really does look like she is meant to. (The main issue is that this movie may look a bit more shocking because, beside the 55 year old Holden, they actually cast a 20 year old girl, whereas many other pictures would have contracted a 25-27 year old. Hence, the May-December relationship looks a little less average and a lot less comfortable… For us, and for Holden’s character.)

Aside from these possibly problematic things, Breezy is a fairly enjoyable and often sweet picture. The age difference is not taken over lightly, and the main characters are both likeable. She is not a sniveling brat, nor a cardboard figure of a Pollyanna. He is neither stodgy nor sexless. He’s just old.

While this picture has some of William Holden’s most explicit love scenes to that date, Eastwood almost seems to be going for the artistic, rather than the exploitative. Still, Lenz was understandably uncomfortable about the brief full frontal she had to perform in front of Holden. Holden, who was usually a gentle and understanding man, immediately decided how he could best help her. In the lamp light, as she stands and faces him, his eyes never once move from her eyes. Not one flicker of an eye travels anywhere indecent or uncomfortable. What then was meant to be a sort of professional courtesy becomes, for the audience, a glimpse of terrific intimacy and sweetness.

Even if it were not for the nice portrayals of loneliness and hope sprinkled liberally through the picture, I would recommend this film for that locked look alone.

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Give AND Receive!

Did you know that the William Holden Wildlife Foundation has a gift shop to raise money for their various projects? Items range from cards to t-shirts to posters, all the way to Stephanie Powers’ signature fragrance “Rare Orchid.”

Find it here.

This way, if you don’t consider the hours I have slaved adequate compensation for your donation, at least you can get some swag.

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Satan Never Sleeps (1962)

Satan Never Sleeps was Leo McCarey’s last film. Leo McCarey, of Duck Soup (1933) and Going My Way (1944) fame. Leo McCarey, who drank even more than Holden during the shoot, and that is saying something. Leo McCarey, who went out on a whimper.

I will not say that Satan Never Sleeps is irredeemable. In fact, there may actually be TWO very good films in here… They just shouldn’t be in here together, is all. On one hand this film tries to be a playful romp of misdirected love between a young Chinese girl (France Nuyen) and the new Catholic priest at the mission (William Holden). This part is light and amusing, and it entertains. Perhaps it is a bit flat at times, but it is cute and we tolerate it because Holden and Nuyen are generally adorable and fun to watch.

The other side of this film is dark, and yearns to be a violent and tragic epic of China’s Communist take over, and the torture of priests and the rape of women. Really, once a rape occurs, can further slapstick be possible in a film?? I don’t really think so, but McCarey tried.

The ending of this film leaves one slightly disgusted. I will not give it all away, but you’ll know it when it happens.

The bottom line with Satan Never Sleeps is that it causes me sadness. I am sad for two films, one a drama called Satan Never Sleeps, and another, a comedy, called, maybe “The Priest and the Girl” or something equally innocuous. Then there could have been enjoyment all around. As it is, the split personality here causes only discomfort and frustration. It is really too bad.

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Trivia Challenge the Fourth

Give the film titles that match with the following William Holden characters:

Joe Gillis
J.J. Sefton
Harry Brubaker
Max Schumacher
Robert Lomax
Alvarez Kelly
David Larrabee
Pike Bishop
George Gibbs
Richard Thorn

(And while you are at it, you can vote for the best one here.)

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The Gillis vs. Schumacher Cage Match

On our final poll for this blogathon, you now need to tell me who is your favourite Holden character of all time. I know this is hard, because how do you chose between, say, Sefton and Bishop, who are equally engaging, but in different ways? Also, how you not fall into the old weepy standby of “But so-and-so died in the end!”? In any case, I am giving you free reign, but with a little help (you are under no obligations to confine yourself to my nominations, though).

Max Schumacher, Network (1976)
Frank Harmon, Breezy (1973)
Ross Bodine, Wild Rovers (1971)n
Pike Bishop, The Wild Bunch (1969)
David Larabee, Sabrina (1954)
JJ Sefton, Stalag 17 (1952)
Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Also, don’t forget to cast your vote for best Holden flick and best Holden co-star. Polls close… well, really never. This is the Internet, nothing ever gets deleted. (Unless you want it not to be…)

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Born Yesterday (1950)

A wealthy businessman, who has come to Washington to bribe a few congressmen, hires educated and suave Paul to tutor his unsophisticated girlfriend Billie into the role of wealthy wife. Paul ends up doing more than that, as his lessons on democracy and US history inspires Billie to realize what a crook her sugar daddy really is. Naturally, the student also learns a thing or two about true love and the charms of her handsome tutor.

Born Yesterday was one of William Holden’s best received films. Although he effectively comes third in billing after co-stars Broderick Crawford (playing tycoon Henry Brock) and Judy Holliday (Billie Dawn, his mistress) in the role of newspaper man/ tutor Paul Verrall, his role was in no way insignificant, and shows a great deal of the Holden charm that would later pay off in his own starring roles.

The film earned a Best Picture nomination, and won Judy Holliday the Best Actress Oscar, the same year that Sunset Boulevard was unfortunately shut out of the Oscars. Nevertheless, 1950 turned out to be Holden’s year, and this terrific little comedy played a big part in that.

(Note: This film is not to be confused with the 1993 howler of a re-make starring John Goodman, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson in the Holden role. Ick.)

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The Devil’s Brigade (1968)

One of William Holden’s lesser known and lesser appreciated pictures, The Devil’s Brigade is the story of a Special Forces unit being molded from a rag-tag bunch of men into an elite fighting force. If you say this sounds like a chestnut, you may be right. Certainly, it is not new or extremely fresh, but there is one thing that typical reviewers do not take into account.

The film revolves around a group of Canadians and a group of Americans, who now have to fight together… Every American reviewer I have looked at has hated, dismissed, or scolded this picture. However, I must admit that I found it a solid couple of hours’ worth of entertainment, with some good Canuck-versus-Yank joking that appealed to me.

So, I can only say that either I liked it because I have rotten taste, or because Canadian viewers may have a better chance of enjoying it. In any case, fans of WWII platoon films should enjoy a look, at the very least, if for no other reason than the hella complex mountain top sequence at the end.

Blogging ‘til the Sun Goes Down

Well, longer, really... But witty titles are starting to become harder to come by. You saw what I came up with the last time, didn't you??

Anyway, this year, it seems, that only 7 bloggers yet remain on the Sabbath schedule. The regular bloggers officially ended some time ago. A reported 280+ blogs finished, and nearly $98,000 has been raised in pledges.

Remember that pledges can still be submitted until Tuesday, and also please remember to honour your pledges. As much fun as I have had tonight, I still wouldn’t want to see those monkeys go hungry on account of fraudulent pledging!

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[Insert Lousy Pun About Licking William Holden Here]

If you would like to help get William Holden a commemorative stamp from the US postal service, and you happen to be a Yank (I don’t think they’d like to hear from us Canucks on the subject), then print off your copy of the petition here, and send it to the address shown.

University has taught me not to believe in truth, but I can say one thing that is pretty close: William Holden’s name deserves to live on, and a stamp is one way to keep this Star in circulation.

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Paris – When it Sizzles (1963)

According to gossip and reports, Bill Holden made Paris – When it Sizzles completely stone drunk… They say he got drunk before reporting to work (to arm himself to work with his one-time paramour and great love Audrey Hepburn, who had dumped him) and stayed that way right through until completion.

And I must admit, it shows. His voice slurs, his walk slants a little. He looks as haggard as a sailor coming off a four day leave. In fact, if the character he was playing was also drunk, it could have ruined the picture entirely.

Lucky, however, he was a drunk playing a drunk, and this hides a number of sins.

Nevertheless, I will not say that Paris is a terrific film. It is sloppy. Incredibly so. Many of the jokes fall flat, and the story is often in shambles. Perhaps it would have been a mess even if Bill had not touched a drop. However, the drink certainly couldn’t have helped it.

Still, this picture has exactly what glossier and technically better-made films such as Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) did not have. Hepburn and Holden (even wet as an open bar) had enough chemistry to light up a city block, and sex rolls off the screen like fog. I even felt my heart skip in a couple of the close embraces.

So, I am torn. A bad picture, with a good emotional impact… Why do I suspect that this still is better than LIAMST?

See my longer review.

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Good Work Takes Money

Currently, the Mount Kenya Animal Conservancy hosts around 1500 animals, representing over 28 different species. They are actively involved in working against poaching, inhumane hunting, and the destruction of several rare species.

Here is just some idea of what amounts are needed to carry out such important work:

$10 buys food and care for rescued monkeys.
$25 buys food and veterinary supplies for the Cheetahs for one week.
$100 pays the salary of an animal caregiver for one month.
$250 pays for the translocation and safe release of one leopard.
$300 buys one kilometer of electrified fence to keep out poachers.
$500 pays for the food and care of one breeding bongo for one year.
$1000 buys two handheld radios for anti-poaching patrols.

Please visit the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy site, and take a look.

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Golden Boy (1939)

Golden Boy is the story of an Italian boy who, despite his gift for the violin, seeks to rise in society and out of the ghetto by the big pay available in prize fighting. It is poetically just that the first role for the hungry-to-prove-himself Holden would be as the Golden Boy himself.

However, that is probably the only thing Bill had in common with his character. When he was cast as the musically-inclined Bonaparte, Holden seemed a total miscast. He wasn’t Italian. He wasn’t poor. He couldn’t play the violin. He had never boxed. He wasn’t yet a trained actor. In sum, he was a huge risk.

Replacing the natural casting choice of tough, Jewish actor John Garfield, who could not be released from other obligations, Holden felt overwhelmed by his first big break. The studio had him curl and dye his hair black, which he hated, and put him into a strict regime of boxing and violin training to prepare for the role.

They also sent him to acting classes, which, in the end, did not work very well. In fact, Holden was only days away from being fired due to his stiff and awkward acting when the star of the picture, Barbara Stanwick, defended him to the studio and took him aside for extra help. (Holden would later say often that everything he was and owned was due to the kindness she had shown him in 1939.)

The one thing Holden had in his favour, aside from his natural strength and athletic build, was the look of him. He was handsome, but producers noticed more. Holden was one of those actors that had instant sympathy from the audience. Just watching the boy struggle on screen made everyone forget any improbability in the character and focus on rooting for the vulnerable underdog he presented.

Unfortunately, this vulnerability was not entirely for the benefit of the camera. The truth was that Bill, although adventurous and healthy, was painfully and morbidly shy of the cameras and crews. It was during the filming of Golden Boy, at the tender age of 20, that Bill Holden started taking one or two glasses of whiskey every morning to bolster his nerves for the day’s work, and to loosen up his rigid and embarrassed form.

It is ironic that the same picture that gave him his nickname, “Hollywood’s Golden Boy,” also planted the seed that would turn the name into a grim mockery of the reality of his later life.

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A Reminder from Your Host

Hi Folks – A few things to keep in mind.

The Sabbath Schedule Blogathon folks still have about 12 hours left, and we are still working at it. Do try to visit a few, particularly my new friend Renegade Kosher, who teaches new ways to spice up an old tradition (yum!). Please, keep those messages, emails and comments coming, people. I know you are just now prying yourself out of your comfy, comfy beds, but we really do need to hear from the outside world once in a while.

Also, do keep in mind that I still have not reached my $100 goal for my charity, the Mount Kenya Animal Conservancy. Please drop a pledge on me, if you haven’t already. Remember that the money goes straight to the charity, not to me, so you needn’t wait for a note from my mum, rabbi and family doctor as insurance.

Also, a BIG thanks to those people who have already pledged for me. If you have been meaning to, but haven’t yet for some reason only known to yourself, then now would be a good time. However, I believe you have until Tuesday if you’d like to mull it over.

FINALLY: Remember to go out and grab a copy of Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969) if you can for your group viewing this evening. What better way to relax on a Sunday night before returning to work the next day than a three hour salute to explicit violence?? Believe me, it will give you a whole new attitude.

We start the film at 8.30pm, but you can come in late if you don’t mind me posting updates and exclamations out of synch.

Hope all is well out there. Keep the notes, questions and trivia answers coming!

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Trivia Challenge the Third

With what studio did William Holden first sign a contract?

For what film did William Holden demand, and receive, an extra $8000 stunt fee for having to follow through with an embarrassing dance scene and what was his supposed reasoning for charging so much?

True or false: William Holden almost lost a nipple having his chest shaved for a scene in Paris – When it Sizzles (1964).

In his later years, William Holden divided his time primarily between which three countries?

What were the two TV movies that stared William Holden, and for which did he pick up an Emmy?

You know the rules. Shake hands and come out answering!

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Holden on Acting:

"Movie acting may not have a certain kind of glory as true art, but it is damn hard work."

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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

It is almost too much of a stretch to say Alec Guinness was Holden’s co-star in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Though the two would graciously hand the title to the other, it is clear to the audience, as it was to the Oscar committee, that Guinness, as a dedicated and obsessive British colonel, was the star of this show.

However, the story, which tells of a Japanese POW camp and the men who run it, live in it, and escape from it, is a tale of obsessive discipline and the blow that military precision deals to simple humanity and individualism. When faced with internment, Guinness’ character sees only the need to prove the endurance of the British soldier, and refuses to see that the need to escape from one’s captors is as strong a need as the one for order.

Holden, who again plays a rough and cynical American anti-hero is, oddly, a moral center for this film. It is he who stands in for us, the viewers, in noticing how cruel discipline can be, and how potentially dangerous duty-over-humanity-can become.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is often gripping, frequently funny, and repeatedly thought provoking. It is also incredibly well made, with fine attention paid to costuming, effects, dialect and casting. Any way you look at it, this is exactly one of those films that proclaims its pedigree of quality and taste, and it should find a ready audience with anyone who enjoys solid drama mixed with action and psychological tension.

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Lt. William Beedle

Bill was not a happy soldier.

When he wanted to see his last pre-war picture, I Wanted Wings, he had to sneak out of camp. The officers were particularly harsh on the “sissies” (i.e. actors) who came through training. He went through agony in his first week, because, partly due to a natural shyness and partly on account of ambitious autograph seekers with no sense of propriety, he could not use the bathroom in the group latrines. He cried into his pillow because he missed his new wife of less than a year. He felt time pass that was lost to his career, and his finances were constantly on his mind.

William Holden (enlisted as William Beedle, which was still his legal name at the time) was one of the very first married Hollywood stars to enlist in the American military after Pearl Harbor, and he, perhaps more than most actors, suffered both financially and professionally because of his service time.

When he left for training at Tarrant Field Air Base in Texas and later Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, he was a fresh faced juvenile who may have been on the right track to stardom. When he returned, his face and body had matured to the point where he had to start all over again, because the old William Holden could no longer be pointed to for bankability.

William Holden served in the Motion Picture Unit during World War II. Although he discharged his duties well, Holden had a great sense of guilt and shame over having served out the war as a PR boy, supporting war bond rallies, hosting pageants for the “real” soldiers, and making training films. This feeling worsened when his brother Robert, a Naval pilot, was killed in the Pacific.

Just like that, just because of a little fame and looks, one brother lived and another died. It was a shame he never quite recovered from.

(Perhaps it was this feeling of helplessness that led him into, if the rumours are true, work he completed for the CIA through the Cold War.)

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Network (1976)

It is often noted that, had Peter Finch not died, William Holden would have received a second Oscar to replace the one he had thrown into the Bay of Naples in a drunken lapse of judgement. And he would have had it for Network, one of his greatest pictures and his best roles.

I don’t know if that opinion is the truth, as Peter Finch was quite good as well in Network, but I have to admit that his ranting delivery of “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” pales in comparison to the feats required of William Holden in this film. Holden, as Max Schumacher, was asked not only to participate in his first on-screen graphic sex scene at the age of 58, but also had an extended and excruciating break-up scene with his on-screen wife (which was good enough to win Beatrice Straight, the actress who played the wife, the Oscar for best supporting actress) that must have brought up more memories than he was comfortable with.

More than all this, there are indications that the WASP king of Pasadena was actually asked to try to portray a Jewish guy… Which should have won him the Oscar for transmutational magic, if you ask me.

But the long and the short of this is that this film, as an ensemble work, is an outstanding picture, and one of the greatest films ever made. As far as I’m concerned, the Oscar should have gone to Peter Finch and to William Holden, as well as to everyone else associated with this high-level satire on the already-in-1976-declining TV news industry. This film both amuses and challenges, and this is something very special.

Further, it has one of the most awesome kiss-off speeches ever committed to celluloid, when Holden’s character, a dedicated and old-fashioned news man, breaks it off with the young female TV producer he is living with (for whom he left his wife).

This speech is too good to pass up, and, heaven forbid, should you ever be in the situation of dumping someone, I feel it would be a mistake not to have this cutting and brilliant attack committed to memory for the occasion:

Max Schumacher: You need me. You need me badly. Because I'm your last contact with human reality. I love you. And that painful, decaying love is the only thing between you and the shrieking nothingness you live the rest of the day.

Diana Christensen: [hesitatingly] Then, don't leave me.

Max Schumacher: It's too late, Diana. There's nothing left in you that I can live with. You're one of Howard's humanoids. If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split seconds and instant replays. You're madness, Diana. Virulent madness. And everything you touch dies with you. But not me. Not as long as I can feel pleasure, and pain... and love. [Kisses her]

Max continues: And it's a happy ending: Wayward husband comes to his senses, returns to his wife, with whom he has established a long and sustaining love. Heartless young woman left alone in her arctic desolation. Music up with a swell; final commercial. And here are a few scenes from next week's show.
[Picks up his suitcases and leaves]

Man. That’s just cold.

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The Mission: To Protect Life

The current objectives of the Mount Kenya Conservancy are:

Breeding Mountain Bongo for return to Mount Kenya.
Returning White Zebras to The Lerogi Plateau.
Rearing and returning wild orphans to their natural habitat.

The conservancy houses and protects orphaned animals and works to repatriate endangered species in Kenya. Donations are needed to continue the care the conservancy provides to a population of around 1500 animals currently.

Financial needs include food and medicine, as well as care providers, grounds-keeping supplies and anti-poaching devices, and all donations are welcome.

Please visit their website, and please donate if you can.

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Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing is, perhaps, one of William Holden’s best-loved films… Therefore it is hard for me to explain why it is one of my least favourite. However, I would find it difficult to recommend this film to anyone, as a film student and as a William Holden fan.

Holden plays Mark Elliott, an American news correspondent in Hong Kong during the Communist revolution in China. He meets and falls in love with (or at least he says he falls in love with) a Eurasian doctor played by Jennifer Jones. They traipse over some hills, proclaiming their love, yadda, yadda, yadda. Actually, when the inevitable tragedy strikes I was almost glad for it.

This film attempts to deal with some significant issues – interracial romance, war, prejudice… and love, which is no small topic. But what it ends up doing is churning out a truck load of Readers’ Digest quality platitudes and some boring stretches.

To say that William Holden is fine in this picture is a safe bet, but, all-in-all, the two stars never seem to mesh. They say they love each other. They kiss. They cry. But what is behind all this? Likely Bill is wondering when he can have a cocktail break, and Jones is wondering if she is lit adequately. You can almost hear them making their grocery lists in their heads. They are bored, and so are we.

Holden is well known for usually having affairs with his leading ladies. Actually, one almost wonders if he thought this was necessary to the job, it happened so frequently. However, this certainly was not the case on the set of Love is a Many-Splendored Thing. The two did not like each other, nor were they able to perk up the smallest bit of chemistry.

One is left disappointed that they did not have an affair behind the scenes, then maybe the film would have been better. What ever happened to closing your eyes and thinking of 20th Century Fox? Clearly these two did not have the appropriate loyalty to their art.

Now this review does not reflect a lot of popular and critical opinion of this film. It often shows up on “most romantic films of all times” lists, and many fans adore it. However, I am not one of them, and I can only call em as I see em, folks.

And this film is about as romantic as a plate of cold fish, despite the many shots of Holden in his swim trunks.

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The World of Suzie Wong (1960)

To be perfectly honest, The World of Suzie Wong is not a great film. Aside from the slight shock of its subject matter in its day, the film may not be remembered by anyone except for die-hard William Holden fans. And even then, it may be a little painful for Holden fans to watch.

By 1960, alcoholism had taken its hold on Bill, and his face and acting had started to show it. His performance in The World of Suzie Wong is, as critic Leonard Maltin put it, “sluggish” at times. Further, there are aspects of the film that make it glaringly obvious you are watching a Hollywood picture, and the film tends to look dated to us now. However, it also has many strong points.

Holden plays an American artist who has chucked his office job for one year, so he can go to Hong Kong and try to make a go of painting. If he cannot do it in a year, he will quit his dreaming and return to the world of commercial architecture. While in Hong Kong, he meets two different women who present two different paths for him: the rich and British Kay, who would gladly support him financially while he paints and escorts her to her father’s dinner parties. The second is Suzie Wong (Nancy Kwan), a Chinese bar girl (i.e. prostitute) who senses in Holden’s character a romantic and honorable love she has been deprived of all her life.

One path leads to cultural and romantic desolation. The other means throwing his lot in with a poor prostitute and dealing with the harsher realities of life, including becoming ostracized as a white man who marries a Chinese woman.

I did find this film engaging and somewhat surprised at how graphically it attempted to deal with conditions in British colonial Hong Kong. While there is cliché and discomfort in the Orientalist vision of Chinese “ladies of pleasure,” the Chinese are not mere caricatures, and the film takes an overt stance on the dehumanization of Asians in the colonies. Further, the romance is stirring and mature, and Holden’s sluggish performance actually works in the second half, as the idealistic painter faces his choices, and the certainty of having to return to his desk job and spiritual suffocation.

Overall, not a classic, but certainly a serviceable picture and solid entertainment for fans of the romance genre.

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No Man is an Island

Let us not forget that an actor and his filmography are only as good as the supporting players or co-stars. This, our second poll, is dedicated to those folks who appeared next to William Holden. And the categories and nominees are…

Best Supporting Player:

Robert Strauss (Stalag 17, 1953; The Bridges at Toko-Ri, 1954)
Erich von Stroheim (Sunset Boulevard, 1950)
Jacqui Chan (The World of Suzie Wong, 1960)
Rosalind Russell (Picnic, 1955)
Mickey Rooney (The Bridges at Toko-Ri, 1954)

Best Co-Star:

Humphrey Bogart (Sabrina, 1954)
John Wayne (The Horse Soldiers, 1959)
Ernest Borgnine (The Wild Bunch, 1969)
Alec Guiness (The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957)
Peter Finch (Network, 1976)

Best Female Lead:

Grace Kelly (The Bridges of Toko-Ri, 1954)
Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina, 1954; Paris – When it Sizzles, 1963)
Kay Lenz (Breezy, 1973)
Nancy Kwan (The World of Suzie Wong, 1960)
Faye Dunaway (Network, 1976)

(Of course, Gloria Swanson wins in every one of these categories, so to be fair I have left her out of the regular competition.)

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The Bridges of Toko-Ri (1955)

The Bridges of Toko-Ri is a movie that has a foot firmly planted in the best of both worlds. Indeed, it is a movie that comes from both Mars and Venus. The romantic love between Holden’s Lt. Brubaker and his wife, played by Grace Kelly, is sweet, if you like that sort of thing. And the action sequences kick powerful ass, if you like that sort of thing. And, resting in between, there is a psychological drama being played out throughout the film that I am sure almost any viewer can appreciate.

Harry Brubaker should not have been sent to Korea. In WWII, he saw extensive active duty as a bomber pilot in the Pacific. Now, though he was technically inactive, he is back on an air craft carrier of the shore of Korea. This war doesn’t seem to make sense like the last one. He is tired, and he is being beaten down bit by bit by the continued stress of his missions. Brubaker expresses the weariness of a nation who believed the line about happiness coming when the world was free again, and yet who found themselves suffering and dying again after such a short peace.

The Bridges of Toko-Ri has its slow and creaky parts. For my side, I am glad that Grace Kelly is in the film only briefly. (By the by, who’s decision was it to out these two uber-WASPs into a breeding pair? Two blue-eyed blonds in a marriage are aesthetically dull, and their romance never really heats up for me.)

The picture is best, and I mean really affective, when it focuses on the pilots who risk their lives simply because they are expected to. With able support from Frederick March, Mickey Rooney and the always wonderful Robert Strauss, the film’s essence is the flying men of the Navy, and we get its message loud and clear.

Oh, and the kick-ass special effects don’t hurt, either.

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Trivia Challenge the Second

What was William Holden’s birth name, and where/when was he born?

For what two roles was William Holden nominated for Oscars that went to someone else, for what films, in what years, and what were the categories? (Bonus: Who won instead?)

What are five films starring William Holden and set in Asia, what years were they made, and in which Asian country were they set?

What was unusual about William Holden’s Oscar acceptance speech and roughly how long was it?

True or False: In Suzanne Vega’s song “Tom's Diner” the lines “I open up the paper/there's a story of an actor/who died while he was drinking/he was no one I had heard of” refer to William Holden.

The first one to comment with the right answers wins the points. The email system is too clunky, so we must go survival of the fittest here, folks.

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Shame on Me

I have always had a string of Silver Screen Idols, from Chaplin to Bogart to Anthony Hopkins. The core list stays fairly stable, and occasionally some fade away or are added. William Holden was a relatively late addition, and the reason behind this neglect reflects poorly on me, I am afraid.

I first saw William Holden in Sabrina (1954), which I had always watched for Bogart. In this film, Holden plays a bon vivant playboy, impeccably dressed in a white dinner jacket, matched by his equally impeccable tan and perfect white teeth; his handsome face (and a smile that says he knows exactly how handsome he is) is capped by very blond, bleach-blond hair.

It was not until later that I discovered just what an actor this handsome face rode around on. Holden was a complex performer who, once he got hired for more than his charming smile, could really show some chops. His was a deep and complex range, exhibiting a form of masculinity rare to his profession, as well as a gentle gallantry mixed with an odd and raw negativity.

No, Holden was not just a pretty face. As unfair as it is to judge people for their homeliness, it is likewise unfair to assume a lack of talent simply based on someone’s good looks. I fell into the same trap where William Holden was concerned that dozens of casting directors did for a decade. I am glad for everyone involved that they and I all learned our lesson.

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Sabrina (1954)

“Once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, some 30 miles from New York, there lived a small girl on a large estate…”

Thus began Billy Wilder’s triumph of romantic take on the fairy tale. Sabrina, played to a tee by a very young and pretty Audrey Hepburn, is the daughter of the chauffeur to the Larabees, a terrifically wealthy and old family on the shore of Long Island, which includes the hard working and dour Linus (Humphrey Bogart) and his playboy brother David (William Holden).

Sabrina has always been in love with David, the more handsome and dashing of the two, but now, fresh from a maturation phase in Paris, Sabrina is not so sure that Linus may not be right for her. Does she go for young love or mature passion?

Actually, that was the question on everybody’s mind nearly to the final pages of Billy Wilder’s script. Since Holden and Bogart were both significant leading men in Hollywood, and because the script was being written as the film was being shot, no one knew which way Sabrina would go.

In real life, Hepburn knew which one she preferred, and she and Holden had one of the handsomest behind-the-scenes romances in Hollywood history. However, they had a major problem: she was the marrying sort, and he was already married. Oops!

This film is pretty, charming and a thorough delight which can be safely recommended for romantics at heart from 8 to 80. The bleach blond Holden cuts a particularly dashing figure in a role that seems tailor made for him. And Bogart… Well, Bogart is always a sure bet, isn’t he? (Even when filling in a role written for Cary Grant of all people.)

The People Who Made This Possible

This blogathon push is dedicated to William Holden. This is not surprising as I am both a film student and a film fan, and a huge admirer of Holden’s work. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t pull myself away from Holden long enough to note the people whose work have created and maintained the organizations that pay tribute to Holden’s legacy of conservation.

Stephanie Powers was William Holden’s companion and friend, as well as his side kick on his many ventures in Africa. His concerns over the state of wildlife in Kenya became hers, as well, and she is now chair of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, and organization she started as a tribute to Holden after his 1981 death. She has become an important force in African and world conservation, and has recently immerged as one of the strongest voices in the anti-bush meat campaign.

Don and Iris Hunt have worked diligently for the endangered or at-risk animals of Mount Kenya for over 30 years, and, through their deep respect for animal life and commitment to conservation, they have built an organization that seeks to reduce poaching, to restock endangered species in Kenya, to educate local youth in conservation work, and to save the lives of orphaned animals. Their work is daily work, and donations can help them further the important projects overseen by the conservancy.

Please visit their website, and please donate.

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