Monday, May 13, 2024

FAREWELL, MARK DAMON

You hit the bullseye in Roger Corman/Richard Matheson's ripe adaptation of Poe's House of Usher (seizing a Golden Globe) and made your presence equally felt in Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (aka The Three Faces of Fear), in addition to such stylish yet potent products as Beauty and the Beast 1962; The Devil's Wedding Night (aka Full Moon of the Virgins); Naked You Die (aka The Young, the Evil and the Savage/Schoolgirl Killer); Crypt of the Living Dead (aka Hannah, Queen of the Vampires); Blyeth: Demon of Incest; the demented Deceiver; and the vengeful "Place of Shadows" from Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  

Beyond these sinister submissions, you were a big man in the saddle, with a series of spaghetti westerns to your credit: Ringo and his Golden Pistol; Go for Broke; Dead Men Don't Count; Requiescant; Death at Owell Rock; Train for Durango; Johnny Yuma; and Pistol Packin' Preacher

On the further, adventurous front, you rode proud in Ivanhoe: The Norman Swordsman; Long Live Robin Hood; The Tyrant of Castile; 100 HorsemenThe Son of Caesar and Cleopatra; Son of El Cid; The Arena 1974; Secret Agent 777; Bang, and the Angels SingThe Great Treasure Hunt; Anzio; Screaming EaglesThe Longest DayBetween Heaven and Hell; There is No 13; The Young Racers; The Rebel Breed; Universal Soldier: Regeneration; and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.

You were a producer/distribution-artist extraordinaire, as well, having steered a number of the aforementioned, but also Monster; Captivity; 9 1/2 Weeks; 8 Million Ways to Die; Prizzi's HonorFlypaper; Beyond a Reasonable Doubt; The Upside of Anger; The Choirboys; The Musketeer; High Spirits; Short Circuit; The Jungle Book 1994; The Lost Boys; Willey's Wonderland; Orgazmo; Das BootThe NeverEnding StoryNever Say Never Again; The Cotton Club; Once Upon a Time in America; The King of ComedyLone Survivor; The Ledge; The Hurricane HeistThe Last Full Measure; The Final Countdown; ... And So It Goes.

You augmented our lives with your multitalented bravado, Mr. Damon: a towering, movie-making figure then, now and for posterity's sake, onward and forever.  

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