NY Post film critic Sara Stewart devotes a full page article, words and pictures, to a new documentary by Alexandre Philippe: 78/52, based on the shower scene in Psycho (1960), which starred Janet Leigh and Tony Perkins. The numbers in the title refer to pieces of film used and cuts done. The scene is only three minutes. Philippe estimates he's viewed it thousands of times. I believe it. There's a lot there. Most people know that Bosco was used for the blood. There are other interesting aspects. The director says it was the first time a belly button was seen in a Hollywood movie. I have no evidence to the contrary, but I'd be surprised if that were true. There were so many comedies, such as the Hope-Crosby Road pictures, set in exotic locales that it seems an umbilicus had to have made an appearance in one. Philippe notes the unprecedented killing off of the star only 40 minutes into the movie, which runs 109. That, indeed, was shocking way back then. It still doesn't occur very often. The only example I can think of off the top of my head is The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), in which the lead role changed three times in that long (2:20) flick. I'd guess I've seen the shower seen at least 20 times through the years. In fact, I have it on videotape among a slew of clips I recorded from televised movies during the '80's and '90's. I went well beyond the three minutes, beginning just before Norman peers through the peephole at Marion and ending after the disposal of the body as the car is swallowed by the swamp. If I recall correctly, it spans about 20 minutes, without dialogue. It is absolutely riveting. I understand why a cinephile would become obsessed with it. The documentary runs 91 minutes and features commentary from admirers and people who were involved in the picture, including Marli Renfro, who was the body double in the scene. She was an original Playboy bunny and appeared on the cover of the magazine in September 1960. Here's that and another:
From Yahoo Sports, edited by yours truly: Were the bogus African-American Studies courses at the center of the scandal at the University of North Carolina strictly an accreditation issue, given that they were available to all students and not just athletes? Or does the disproportionate number of men’s basketball and football players enrolled in those classes show that athletic department personnel provided extra benefits by steering academically at-risk athletes to courses where they would receive passing grades doing no work? Today the NCAA, after a four-year investigation, ruled it could not conclude the school violated academic standards, and did not levy any significant penalties against the Tar Heels. Is anyone surprised? Major college athletics are a joke.
My thanks to the kind folks who bought books, videos and music on this cool day. Two people commented on President Trump's executive order on health care. Dave, a chef in a Manhattan hotel who is covered through his union, approves. An online book-seller, whose name I don't know, disapproves, despite the fact that he is in the midst of a dispute regarding his ACA plan and its high premium, and his belief that Obamacare has been a disaster.
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