PIN-UP TIME: ALICE EVE (MAXIM)

SO LONG, M. EMMET WALSH

You redefined the meaning of "character" in character actor, becoming a familiar but convertible face through decades of film. 

No one will forget your performances in Blade Runner; Escape from the Planet of the Apes; Critters; Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat; Relative Fear; City in Fear; Blood Simple; The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power; The Iron Giant; Harry and the Hendersons; They Might Be Giants; Midnight Cowboy; The Traveling Executioner; The Milagro Beanfield War; Albino Alligator; Shifting Gears; Get to Know Your Rabbit; Arthur Newman; Don McKay; Christmas with the Kranks; Christmas in the Clouds; Airport '77; The Mimic; Outlaw Posse; Serpico; Straight Time; Clean and Sober; Sunset; Knives Out; Fletch; East of Eden 1981; Back to School; Ordinary People; Reds; Silkwood, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home; Cops and Robbersons; Camp Nowhere; Nickelodeon; Narrow Margin; The Mighty Quinn; My Best Friend's Wedding; Little Big Man; Bound for Glory; Slap Shot; Back Roads; Kid Blue; Raising Arizona; Romeo & Juliet 1996; Snow Dogs; The Prisoner of Second Avenue; Alice's Restaurant; The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh; The Invasion of Johnson County; The Gambler 1974; Stiletto; What's Up, Doc?; The Escape Artist; Mikey and Nicky; Chattahoochee; High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane; At Long Last Love; Fast-Walking; Missing in Action; Red Scorpion; Thunderground; Poor White Trash; Equinox 1992; Random Hearts; Big Stan; Youth in Revolt; Chasing 3000; Wilder Napalm; Racing Stripes; The Pope of Greenwich Village; The Immaculate Room; Brotherhood of the Rose; The Jerk; Grandview USA; and The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  

Indeed, you were here, there and everywhere, and for television, guest shots, you covered all the bases as well, with stints on The Flash 1990; Bonanza; Little House on the Prairie; The Waltons; Gibbsville; Early Edition; Ironside, NYPD Blue; Julia; All in the Family; The Don Rickles Show; The Bob Newhart Show; The Sandy Duncan Show; The Jimmy Stewart Show; Baretta; The Rockford Files; McMillian & Wife; The Doctors; The X-Files; The Hitchhiker; The Twilight Zone 1985; The Outer Limits 1996; Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt; Big Guy and Rusty the Robot; and more. 

You deserve to be placed on a pedestal, Mr. Walsh, admired and praised for your ability to hit it out of the park time and again. And for those who revisit your work, you'll continue to do so far into the future. After all, legends of your caliber never fade; they just become more beloved.  

PHOENIXVILLE, PA, PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET EGGSTRAVAGANZA, 3/31 (ROOT DOWN BREW CO)

 

PUPPIES BEHIND BARS: A CHARITABLE CAUSE

  

For Easter (and Spring's hopeful advent), thoughts of charitable causes once more come to mind. For those who wish to make a positive impact on others, Puppies Behind Bars is a sincere, worth-while means to do so. 

Puppies Behind Bars assists in canine training for wounded war veterans and first responders, who face difficulties with daily functions. In addition, the agency supplies crucial, bomb-detection dogs for police procedures. The canine training is administered by prisoners, who wish to give something beneficial to a society they've wronged in one way or another: a most honorable path toward redemption. 

The charity ensures that inmates are prepared to the utmost, caring capacity before they commence their meticulous but nurturing lessons. Trainers and dogs are then teamed for two years, at the end of which the astute, adoring animals are dispatched to their designated guardians in need.

I'm a proud contributor of Puppies Behind Bars and do hope that others will contribute as well. The organization is a huge win-win for all involved.

Visit Puppies Behind Bars

at https://puppiesbehindbars.com/. 

You'll find ample information on all activities, with specific steps on how to lend your support. 

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: HULK VS WOLVERINE (WITH WENDIGO)

 

I saw You Can Call Me Bill

Imagi-movie, documentary director Alexandre O. Phillipe's loving tribute to William Shatner, You Can Call Me Bill, is one to analyze and revere, much like Peter Jaysen's Shatner/Nimoy Mind Meld: created, that is, for devotees; and as for those uncultivated outsiders (and that includes those cultists of Dennis William Hauck's Captain Quirk), well, to hell with 'em. 

The  reflective document works because it delivers what it promises. It's all about Shatner, an hour and forty minutes of the 93-year-old, with a result that's more philosophical than funny (though humor certainly intercedes), covering his many jaunts and challenges and how such have colored his career (and our lives). That means Star Trek and Captain James T. Kirk distinguish the grand remembrance (how could they not?), but with Shatner's sidebar triumphs also haunting our collective consciousness: T.J. Hooker, Boston Legal, The Practice, $#!@My Dad Says, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, not to mention a coveted-and-achieved, space-shuttle sojourn.

Shatner's dual role in Jose Briz Mendez's underrated White Comanche is even acknowledged (a clever tit-for-tat that holds its own with Trek's "The Enemy Within" and "Turnabout Intruder"). This inclusion, in itself, furthers You Can Call Me Bill's thorough slant, but it's Shatner's heartfelt reminiscing (with worthy bit after worthy bit, stretching from his youth through his senior years, from times of impoverishment to the well-deserved comebacks) that enlivens Phillipe's expedition. Here we get the still-virile Shatner in a frank, no-frills context, poised under the hot lights, as we, the audience, witness his soulful reveal. 

The content comprises what few actors could hope to gain, but as You Can Call Me Bill implies, Shatner isn't like most actors. He's distinct and original like Bogart, Wayne, Cagney, Eastwood and Brando, with an energetic emoting that's parroted by others because, damn it, Shatner is a charismatic one of a kind. He's relevant, persuasive and beloved, even by those who may have cause not to admire him (pardon the paradox). 

As a lifelong, Shatner fan, I appreciate Phillipe's sincere staging, for it summons the best from the best. For sure, You Can Call Me Bill may come and go in theaters, but like Trek (and Shatner's marginal, though no less important works), this one will endure: a gem that's already a classic without any need of fermentation. 

WELCOME SPRING 2024 (3/19)