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Another Evening with Burt Bacharach (1970)
A polished presentation with one standout performance.
I can remember very clearly watching this music special in 1970. I was a big fan of Burt Bacharach music and his previous show An Evening with Burt Bacharach was terrific. This follow-up was equally pleasing - an hour of great songs presented by an easy going host.
But the moment I remember best is when Dusty Springfield stepped up to the piano and sang "A House Is Not A Home". I'd never heard the song before and I was blown away by her powerful, emotional performance. I was glad to see someone has uploaded it to YouTube and it's every bit as thrilling 41 years later. The mystery remains as to why she never recorded it.
More American Graffiti (1979)
A very good movie on it's own
I saw American GRAFFITI when it first came out and was blown away. I didn't even know there was a sequel until it came on late-night TV a few years ago. I watched it with some reluctance, expecting it to be a letdown. I was pleasantly surprised - by not trying to duplicate the original and instead concentrating on developing the characters in a logical way this movie is a worthy successor to the first. I saw it again yesterday and I like it even more - Candy Clark is perfect, the scenes with Terry The Toad are as effecting as he was in the original, and Steve and Laurie are exactly who you knew they'd turn out to be. If you give this movie a chance to stand on it's own, and not require it to re-create the experience the feeling of seeing the first, you'll be satisfied.
Stagecoach (1966)
For once a sequel worthy of the original
When I first saw this movie in 1966 I was vaguely aware it was a remake but I had never seen the original. The premise - a group of vivid characters traveling together across Indian territory - is a classic formula. The key to making this work is the casting, which in this case is as perfect as the original. The interplay between Bing Crosby, as the drunken doctor, and Red Buttons, a traveling liquor salesman, is particularly delightful. Bing Crosby had a comedic style that brought out the best in anyone cast as his foil (see Bob Hope) and his performance here is worth the two hours alone. Bob Cummings, the quintessential movie nice guy, is terrific as the nervous thief on the run. Van Heflin and Slim Pickens are exactly the kind of guys you'd want at the reins of a stagecoach making a run for your life. Ann-Margret, Stefanie Powers, Mike Connors and Alex Cord do what they can with parts that were perhaps too closely patterned on the originals. Although movies of this type can at times seem contrived - with events and action occurring at the most inconvenient moments - you have to give a little leeway for dramatic license. Who would want to see a movie where nothing happens? As for the action this movie delivers - the Indian attack and chase scenes through the mountains are every bit as compelling and edge-of-your-seat thrilling as the original. And the music, by Jerry Goldsmith, is a classic in western movie scores - I remember wearing out my soundtrack album of it back in the sixties. Overall, far from being a pale imitation of the original as some have suggested, this movie stands on it's own because of the performances and crackling good direction.