Excellence in Casting: All Fall Down

Male enough to attract a dozen women...not man enough to be faithful to one!

I first saw the 1962 drama All Fall Down last year on TCM.  I've been meaning to post about the film since.  This week seemed the perfect time.  First off, there was a lot of press last week for the 100th birthday of one of the film's stars, Eva Marie Saint.  Secondly, TCM is running the film again this Thursday.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you check it out.

Prior to getting over my distain for old movies, especially black and white films, I wasn't really a fan of actor Warren Beatty.  Growing up in the 80's, the only Beatty films I saw were the ones my parents rented on VHS.  As a kid, I couldn't sit through Reds, Ishtar or Bugsy, and although I made it through Dick Tracy, I didn't love it.  Thanks to TCM however, I've grown to love many of many of his films and appreciate what a stunning man, and talented actor he was and is.

In All Fall Down, Beatty was both incredibly hot, and incredibly unlikable.  He was also really great as troubled son Berry-Berry who mistreats almost everyone he encounters, including his family.  Berry-Berry is hot, and he knows it, and he uses his looks and charisma to use and abuse several women he encounters throughout the film.

The casting director deserves an award for this film.  In addition to Beatty, the entire cast including; Eva Marie Saint, Carl Malden and Brandon Wilde all put in high caliber performances.  I first developed a crush on Wilde after seeing him int he Paul Newman movie Hud.  I previously featured him on the site HERE:

Angela Lansbury is as always a stand out as Annabell Willart, mother to Berry-Berry and his younger brother Clinton. (Wilde)  Although she's playing much older, Lansbury was only in her thirties while shooting the film.  That would have made her only about 10 years older than Beatty who played her son.

There are no scenes of male skin in the film, but the film is beautifully shot, and Beatty's beautiful face and body more than make up for it.  So does the story and the family dysfunction so skillfully written, directed and performed.   If you're in need of a little Beatty skin, you can check out my previous posts on FH HERE:

Favorite Beginning to a Bad Movie: Hook

As I give (throw) away the final remnants of my VHS collection I re watched the first 30 minutes of 1991's Hook. I was about 15 when I went to theatre with a group of friends to see Hook. I was really looking forward to the movie, Christmas vacation had just begun and I was in the holiday mood. The movie had three of my favorite actors, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and Julia Roberts. Add to that Maggie Smith and director Steven Spielberg and how could you lose? Well...



Just like in 1991 I loved the first 30 minutes of Hook. Great lead up, great acting, love London in winter, Maggie Smith and of course John Williams magical score. Then at about the 30, 31 minute mark the movie takes a disastrous turn. It begins with Julia Roberts flying onto the screen as Tinkerbell and continues through all of the scenes in Neverland. Now on the surface casting Roberts was a great idea. She was at the time one Hollywood's hottest young stars but for many reasons (including the fugly and oh so fake wig) it just didn't work. In fact all of Neverland bored me to tears. It is not a good sign when a movie based on one of the most imaginative novels ever written can muster so little magic.


Above: Dustin Hoffman & Charlie Korsmo.

Whatever Happened to Charlie Korsmo?


Dustin Hoffman (twice) Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Cicley Tyson, James Earl Jones, Madonna, Jessica Lange, Richard Dreyfuss, William Hurt, Bill Murray, Kathy Bates, Robin Williams & Julia Roberts. All co-stars of actor Charlie Korsmo's during his brief acting career which spanned just 7 movies in 8 years from 1990 through 1998. Charlie's last film was Columbia's Can't Hardly Wait in 1998 co-starring Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, Ethan Embry, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Peter Facinelli. Although short, Charlie's co-starred in some of the decades biggest hits.

Below: Charlie with Chris O'Connell & Jessica Lange in a favorite movie of mine, Men Don't Leave.


Proving not every child star follows the Gary Coleman child star road map, Charlie Korsmo has been leading a busy and productive life since his acting ended. The Minnesota native earned a degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 2002, began working for the United States Federal Government on missile defense.

Below: With Warren Beatty


Korsmo continued his education and in 2006 receiving a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. Korsmo has worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and for the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. He is currently a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School. Charlie Korsmo proves that being a celebrity, a child star does not mean your life has to turn into a hazed circus. Take note Lindsay Lohan, like Charlie Korsmo and Peter Pan at some point or another everyone has to grow up.

Below: With the cast of Can't Hardly Wait.

In All His Splendor

I never liked Warren Beatty, in fact I actively disliked him. I am not sure actually that I have really seen any of his movies other than Dick Tracy, and had no desire to. I have seen him interviewed and he always seemed so odd, cocky and distant.

I knew little about him other than a bit of his vast history with women. Last year though I remember reading about his child who was transgendered, and wondered how the legendary Lothario was dealing with is eldest daughter transitioning into being a boy. Then, last week I watched my DVR recording of 1961's Splendor In The Grass.

I got it. As Bud Stamper, Beatty was brimming with sexual energy and I loved how although the character was not written as especially likable, was still like a magnet of sexuality, pulling everyone around him in. Beatty never looked better, the curve of his nose and chin, his beautiful lips. I guess they were always there, but took watching him in Splendor to have me actually see it.

What though the radiance

which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass,

of glory in the flower,

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind;

In the primal sympathy

Which having been must ever be;

In the soothing thoughts that spring

Out of human suffering;

In the faith that looks through death,

In years that bring the philosophic mind

William Wordsworth

 

Just Because: Beatty in Shampoo (1975)

Happy Birthday today March 30th

Happy 81st to actor Warren Beatty!

Check out more of Beatty on FH HERE: & HERE:

& More of today's Birthdays HERE:

Beatty with David Wayne on the set of Suspicion (1957)

Favorite Face of the Day: Rusti in Splendor in the Grass

The first I saw 1961's Splendor In The Grass on television, my focus was on Warren Beatty and the movies gripping story of obsessive love.  When I caught a few minutes again last week, it was another face that caught my eye.

The beautiful blue eyed blonde is Rusti, played actor Mark Slade.  Rusti only appeared in a few brief scenes, so few, he Slade didn't actually get an official credit in the film.  That face however, stands out, giving Beatty a run for his money in the swoon worthy department.

Splendor In The Grass was one of Slade's early projects, filmed in the then 22 year old's first year in show business.  Although he went on to appear in other films, Slade's achieved his greatest success on television in the sixties, with roles in The Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and High Chaparral.

Baby got back

Slade with Beatty and Gary Lockwood

Happy Birthday today March 30th

Happy 80th to actor Warren Beatty!

Check out more of Beatty on FH HERE: & HERE:

& More of today's Birthdays HERE:

Beatty with Elizabeth Taylor in The Only Game in Town 1970

Just Because: The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Actor Warren Beatty turned 78 on March 30th and when I thought I might post that day I found a copy of the 1961 flim The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone co-starring actress Vivien Leigh. I have not had a chance to watch yet, but it was images of this scene which initially peeked my interest in the flick.

As I wrote in a 2013 post (In All His Splendor) I was never really a fan of Beatty's until seeing Splendor In The Grass a couple of years ago on TCM. I can't say I became a fan as much as I gained a healthy admiration for Mr. Beatty, especially in some of movies of the 60's and 70's. Reputation aside, he was mighty purdy!