Don’t Mind If I Do

Don’t let that tanned, handsome, charming surface fool you. Beneath the bronzed façade is a mischievous mind with a wicked wit. George Hamilton doesn’t miss a thing. With a front row seat for classic Hollywood’s biggest secrets and scandals, George has the intelligence, heart, and unflappable spirit to tell his story, and the story of Tinseltown’s heyday, with great good humor and delicious candor — as only he can. From Where the Boys Are to Dancing with the Stars; from Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor; from smalltown Arkansas to the capitals of Europe — it’s all here, and George has lived to tell and to laugh about it.

As the child of a Dartmouth-educated bandleader father and a glamorous Southern debutante mother whose marriage crumbled early on, George had a childhood filled with misadventures and challenges that his mother always seemed able to turn from tragedy to comedy. Her idea of changing the family’s fortunes involved a trip cross-country with three sons and a poodle in a Lincoln Continental, making stops along the way to search for husband/father number three. And she was quick to recognize that George’s potential success lay in Hollywood.

George starved nobly for his art in the late 1950s, but was soon starring in major motion pictures directed by the likes of Vincente Minnelli and Louis Malle. He has forgotten more about Hollywood than most movie experts will ever know and shares intimate and hugely entertaining stories of his friendships with Cary Grant; Brigitte Bardot; Robert Mitchum; Merle Oberon; Mae West; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Judy Garland — not to mention Lyndon B. Johnson and Elvis’s Colonel Tom Parker as well as the King himself — among others. The world is Hamilton’s oyster, and this ultimate insider is ready to share it with us. So fasten your seat belt. We’ll tell you when it’s safe to move about the cabin again.
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Au Revoir Les Enfants – Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]

The long shadow of Malle’s autobiographical memoir of occupied France continues to fall heavily across subsequent representations of World War II, boarding school, and male adolescence–in fact, it would be difficult to identify a recent film that addresses these concerns and does not, in some substantial way, echo Au Revoir Les Enfants. The straightforward, unsentimental, gutsy Enfants finds its 12-year-old protagonist, Julien Quentin, sheltered from the conflict in a Catholic school. His classmate Jean, a new arrival, becomes first a competitor, then a beloved friend. Jean, however, hides a secret from his classmates and the Gestapo; evenly, subtly, Malle creates an atmosphere of hovering and inescapable danger. It won’t take you more than a few frames to guess Jean’s “secret,” and many of the plot points here are too telescoped. Nevertheless, the plainspoken courage with which Malle tells his story remains wholly engrossing. The cinematography here is masterful and drunk with childlike wonder, alternating claustrophobic, wood-paneled church interiors with vivid, occasionally frightening outdoor vistas. And never is it more affecting than in the chilling scene where Justin gets lost in the woods during a seemingly innocent game of capture-the-treasure; trees and rocks flash by the running boy with an austere, impersonal beauty. Winner of seven Cesars (the French Oscars) in 1987, including Best Picture. It’s in French, with subtitles; but don’t let that scare you away. –Miles Bethany
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Women in Revolt

Take a walk on the wild side with three girls from different walks of life — and they’ve all got man problems! High-society dame Candy, frigid middle-class matron Jackie, and gutter nymphomaniac Holly are inspired by the fashionable Women’s Lib movement to get organized as PIG (Politically Involved Girls) and give up men. However, their attempts to go lesbian and build new careers only lead to exploitation and abandonment in this outrageous, gender-bending cult comedy from director Paul Morrissey.
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Hollywood Hoofbeats: Trails Blazed Across the Silver Screen

In Hollywood Hoofbeats, author Petrine Day Mitchum tells stories in page-turning detail, covering topics such as behind-the-scenes portraits of both famous movie horses and those virtually unknown; personal accounts from their trainers, owners, and costars; simple and complex horse stunts, from a fall in mid-gallop to a race across a bridge during a live explosion; and historic black-and-white photos and richly colored contemporary stills.
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In My Time

Formally attired and seductively positioned, Yanni gazes out at you from the cover of this 1993 recording and–no description needed–tells you everything you need to know about the music that awaits inside. Here are a few additional details: In My Time is a 49-minute album of piano-based works with a distinct neoclassical flavor that is targeted specifically to Yanni’s large and faithful female following. Its highlights: the shimmering tenderness of “In the Morning Light” and the gently caressing “To Take … To Hold.” Perhaps because this was his last album for Private Music, he elected to fill it in with two repeats from Dare to Dream, “Felitsa” and “In the Mirror.” –Terry Wood
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