THE LAST MOVIE OF JACKIE GLEASON

Rumor has it that director Garry Marshall would not go ahead with the making of "Nothing in Common" (1986) without the inclusion of Jackie Gleason. In poor health, Gleason had grown tired of filmmaking, and wished to retire from the business. After several attempts to get him on board, Marshall finally called Gleason on the phone and insisted that if he didn't do this film, that the last film he would be remembered for was the box-office bomb "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3" (1983). Gleason immediately accepted the offer on the condition that this would be his last acting role. In Marshall's 2012 memoir, "My Happy Days in Hollywood," he credits Ray Stark with asking Gleason the question about if he wanted "Smokey and the Bandit 3" being how he would be remembered.

Marshall described this picture as a humorous, poignant "exploration of how much we owe our parents.'' It is also, he agreed, a natural progression from his prior comedy, "The Flamingo Kid" (1984). That film starred Matt Dillon as a cabana boy at a 1960's beach club, awed by a flashy, flamboyant car dealer, played by Richard Crenna, at the expense of his lower-middle-class father, played by Hector Elizondo. "'The Flamingo Kid' was set in an age of comparative innocence, when notions of thrift, hard work and a good education were challenged by the values of the get-rich-quick society," said Marshall. "There's been a lot of upward mobility in the time between the stories. The family relationship in 'Nothing in Common' is more complex. It's much more of a dramatic comedy."

In a 2006 DGA interview, Marshall spoke about how an observation from Gleason in a key scene resulted in a turning point in both his and Tom Hanks' careers: "We had a hospital scene. Now Tom is a comic guy and Jackie Gleason is comical, and I come from comedy, so it was a very serious scene. So we weren't getting it and finally Jackie Gleason said, 'You know what's wrong? We're all doing hospital room jokes,' so he says, 'We must have an exorcism and free this room of all humor.' So the three of us like idiots ran around doing every bedpan, nurse, hospital joke ever done in the history of comedy and finally Jackie says, 'It's gone. It's all gone. Now we can do the serious scene.' So, now another director would say, 'Are they crazy? I knew exactly what he was saying.' And we did it and it's the one scene where Tom Hanks actually cries in the scene. Something he's never done before that, he was doing 'Bachelor Party' (1984) in his underwear, and this was a very important picture to Tom and to me because we both did a film that was a little more serious and a little more poignant and it got us into another category."

Gleason was seriously ill with colon cancer, liver cancer, thromboses hemorrhoids, diabetes and phlebitis throughout production. One evening during filming, he admitted to his daughter that he only had a short time to live. He died nearly one year after the film's release, long enough to personally view the completed film which he was said to have enjoyed very much....

JACKIE GLEASON'S SECRETS TO THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

 JACKIE GLEASON SECRET TO THE PERFECT MARRIAGE

1. Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food and companionship. She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.

2. We also sleep in separate beds. Hers is in California and mine is in Texas.

3. I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.

4. I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. "Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said. So I suggested the kitchen.

5. We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker. She said "There are too many gadgets, and no place to sit down!" So I bought her an electric chair.

7. My wife told me the car wasn't running well because there was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was. She told me, "In the lake."

8. She got a mud pack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.

9. She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, "Am I too late for the garbage?" The driver said, "No, jump in!".

10. Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.

11. I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was 'Always'.

12. I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.

13. The last fight was my fault though. My wife asked, "What's on the TV?" I said, "Dust!".

Can't you just hear him say all of these?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: ANOTHER CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CHRISTMAS

 I hope everyone is having a cool Yule this year! I love these classic Hollywood Christmas pictures. It was truly a glamourous time in Hollywood...

Carole Lombard

Bob Hope & Doris Day

Jackie Gleason

Piper Laurie

Tony Bennett

Jack Benny

Other classic Hollywood Christmas:

2022

2014

THE LAST WILL OF JACKIE GLEASON

Interesting news story about the will of Jackie Gleason from 1986...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) _ Comedian Jackie Gleason changed his will the day before he died, decreasing his wife’s share of his estate from half to one-third and increasing bequests to his two daughters and secretary.

The size of Gleason’s estate was not listed in the initial will, and his attorney, Brian Patchen, declined to estimate its value.

Gleason,  died of liver and colon cancer June 24, 2986 at the age of 71.. A death certificate filed with the will in Broward Probate Court said death came two months after he was stricken with the liver cancer, but did not say when he contracted colon cancer, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported today.

On June 23, too weak to sign his name, Gleason told Patchen and business associates Richard Green and Irwin Marks to amend the document, the attorney said. ″It’s a very amicable thing ... very straightforward.″

Gleason decreased the share of his third wife, Marilyn Gleason, from half to one-third and raised the bequest for his secretary of 29 years, Sydell Spear of Hialeah, from $25,000 to $100,000.

The balance is to be divided equally by Gleason’s daughters from his first marriage, Geraldine Chatuk of Los Angeles and Linda Miller of Santa Monica, Calif., each of whom was originally to receive a quarter of the estate.

Gleason did not provide for a stepson from his last marriage or any arts organizations or charities.

The star of ″The Honeymooners″ television series and several movies left his personal effects, including jewelry, clothing, art works and automobiles to his wife, the sister of choreographer June Taylor. Mrs. Gleason was also appointed executor of the will originally drawn up in April 1985...

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CELEBRITY ADS: JACKIE GLEASON

Jackie Gleason is one of my favorite entertainers - the man could do it all from acting to comedy and from composing to writing. He also could advertise anything. Below is a colorful ad for Nescafe. I am guessing it is from 1953, when he was considered one of the greatest talents in television...

GIGOT: A 1962 REVIEW

One of the great forgotten gems of the cinema was 1962's Gigot. The film starred Jackie Gleason, and it was not successful during it's theatre release. However, in recent years the film has gotten a cult following. Here is the original review by Bosley Crowther. It appeared in the NY Times on September 28, 1962...

THERE'S a vast lot of Jackie Gleason to pour out the pathos, when he does — and he does, to a point of saturation, in "Gigot" (pronounced "Gee-go"), which came to the Music Hall yesterday. Playing a huge, shabby Parisian who lives alone in a basement in Montmartre and communicates with his taunting neighbors in clumsy pantomime because he is mute, Mr. Gleason fairly opens the faucets that are connected to the mammoth reservoir of his own simple sentimentality and lets the syrup gush. Grubby, dirty and unshaven, he wallows around in this film, a well set-up prey for practical jokers, who treat him like the village idiot. His small eyes blink in solemn sadness, his pudgy hands fumble helplessly and his great, baggy frame droops resignedly when the cruel people make fun of him. His only true companion is a voracious cat that visits his hovel every morning and gets a dish of milk from him.

Then one night he finds, out in a rainstorm, a fallen woman and a soggy little girl. He takes them home to his dismal basement and generously takes care of them. Well, you can imagine what this leads to. The woman scorns and badgers him, but the little girl comes to love him, after he has won her with a lot of show-off stunts. And this leads to his wanting to keep them so intensely and desperately that he steals money to buy them fine dresses and to wine and dine them at the local bistro.

 

Is this beginning to sound a little like an old Charlie Chaplin film? If it is, we strongly imagine that's exactly what Mr. Gleason would have it do. For it is evident that his characterization of a lonely, unspeaking vagabond, who hungers for social acceptance and the warmth of somebody's love, is modeled after Chaplin, and the script that John Patrick has prepared (from a story provided by Mr. Gleason) is cut precisely to the pattern of a Chaplin film. But, unfortunately, Mr. Gleason, for all his recognized comic skill when it comes to cutting broad and grotesque capers, as he does now and then, does not have the power of expression or the subtleties of physical attitude to convey the poignant implications of such a difficult, delicate role.

His man is a ponderous, steamy figure whose maunderings are soggy and gross—and made only more so in the close-ups that Gene Kelly, who directed, has generously employed. (Remember, Chaplin was slight and graceful and always had a dauntless, dapper air.) His pantomimic exhibitions have little variety. His ways of looking pathetic are blunt and monotonous. What's more, there is too much of him. Mr. Gleason is virtually the whole show. Katherine Kath as the woman he shelters and Diane Gardner as her little girl are apt but confined in their performing. Their roles are stereotypes. (It is remarkable how much the youngster looks like Jackie Coogan in Chaplin's "The Kid.") Jacques Marin as a practical joker and Gabrielle Dorziat as the tenant of the house in which Mr. Gleason has his hovel are most expressive as real Parisians. True, there is a fast burst of morbid humor and sweet sentiment at the end, but it is awfully late in coming. A lot of moisture has by now gone down the drain...

 

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FORGOTTEN ONES: FRANK FONTAINE

I first noticed a goofball type of clown on one of Jackie Gleason's old variety shows. He talked and looked crazy. He was hilarious, and then one day I was at the flea market and I found an LP featuring this clown singing beautifully and I could not believe it. The clown as well as the wonderful singer was the forgotten Frank Fontaine. Born on April 19, 1920 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is best known for his appearances on television shows of the 1950s and 1960s, including The Jackie Gleason Show, The Jack Benny Show, and The Tonight Show.

One of his earliest appearances was on the radio show, The Jack Benny Program. During an episode which aired on April 9, 1950, Fontaine played a bum (named "John L. C. Silvoney") who asked Benny for a dime for a cup of coffee. The smallest coin Benny had to offer was a fifty-cent piece, so he gave it to him. The story Benny told about this event became a running gag during later shows. Fontaine's goofy laugh and other voice mannerisms made a hit with the audience, and Benny brought him back for several more radio shows between 1950 and 1952. He also made a cameo appearance in Here Comes The Groom (1951), which starred Bing Crosby.

He also later appeared in several of Benny's television shows. On The Jackie Gleason Show, he played the character Crazy Guggenheim during Gleason's "Joe The Bartender" skits. His trademark was a bug-eyed grin and the same silly laugh he had done on Jack Benny's radio show. At the end of his Guggenheim sketch, he would usually sing a song, demonstrating a surprisingly good singing voice In 1963, he released the album Songs I Sing on the Jackie Gleason Show, which collected some of these songs and reached number one on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in 1963. 

Despite the comparisons with Gleason and Red Skelton, Fontaine never accomplished what they did and made a career of hosting a variety show doing a multitude of characters of his own creation. People only wanted one—the one with the wheezy laugh he developed as a teenager during the Depression. Being boxed in must have grated on him after awhile. He expanded a bit on the Gleason show by interrupting his Crazy schtick for a song in a straight baritone, popular (if not schmaltzy) with some, but oddly jarring to others. Frank seems to have worked steadily but ran into money troubles. In 1971, he filed for bankruptcy and his 12-room house was put up for auction to pay an almost half-million-dollar tax bill. He was $850,000 in debt. 

Frank Sinatra and others came to his rescue with a benefit show. His health wasn’t good. He had been hospitalized in 1970 after collapsing following a lengthy performance on the Jerry Lewis telethon. In 1977, he lay unconscious in hospital after what may have been a heart attack. And then the following August, he had just finished his fourth encore before a crowd of 3,000 in Spokane and had accepted a $25,000 cheque to be donated to heart research when he dropped to the boards backstage. He died there of a heart attack on August 4, 1978...

THE DRAMATIC SIDE OF JACKIE GLEASON

Most comedians eventually yearn and try to make the transition to dramatic films. Some do it with success like Bill Murray, but others only have moderate success in dramatic movies. Jackie Gleason only had moderate success as a dramatic actor, but I personally believe he had the talent to become a fine actor. Gleason's acting was not restricted to comedic roles.

He had also earned acclaim for live television drama performances in The Laugh Maker (1953) on CBS's Studio One and William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (1958), which appeared as an episode of Playhouse 90 (a television anthology series).

He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961). (In his 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show, Gleason told Johnny Carson that he had played pool frequently since childhood, utilizing those experiences in The Hustler.) Gleason followed that up with a well-received role as a beleaguered boxing manager in the movie version of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Gleason also played a world-weary army sergeant in Soldier in the Rain (1963), in which he received top billing over Steve McQueen.

He wrote, produced and starred in Gigot (1962), a box-office flop in which he plays a poor, mute janitor who befriends and rescues a prostitute and her small daughter. The film's script formed the basis for the television film The Wool Cap (2004), starring William H. Macy in the role of the mute janitor; the television film received modestly good reviews.

During the 1980s, Gleason earned positive reviews playing opposite Laurence Olivier in the HBO dramatic two-man special, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983). He also gave a memorable performance as wealthy businessman U.S. Bates in the comedy The Toy (1982) opposite Richard Pryor. Although the movie itself was critically panned, Gleason and Pryor's performances were praised.

Gleason delivered one more critically acclaimed performance as an infirm, acerbic and somewhat Archie Bunker-like character in the Tom Hanks comedy-drama Nothing in Common (1986). The film proved to be Gleason's final film role, since he was suffering from colon cancer, liver cancer, and thrombosed hemorrhoids during production. “I won’t be around much longer”, he told his daughter at dinner one evening after a day of filming. Gleason kept his medical problems private, although there were rumors that he was seriously ill. A year later, on June 24, 1987, Gleason died at his Florida home. Gleason was no Sir Laurence Olivier, but he was a genius in every genre he tackled...

MY 100 FAVORITE FILMS OF ALL-TIME

In 2012 I broke down my favorite movies from each decade. To start off the new year I thought it would be interesting to gather my 100 favorite movies for a list. I was going to make the list according to preference, but that just was too difficult. So here are my 100 all-time favorite movies in chronological order...

Al Jolson and May McAvoy in The Jazz Singer

1. The Jazz Singer (1927)
2. City Lights (1931)
3. The Public Enemy (1931)
4. Frankenstein (1931)
5. Dracula (1931)
6. Freaks (1932)
7. King Kong (1933)
8. 42nd Street (1933)
9. Show Boat (1936)
10. Follow The Fleet (1936)
11. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
12. Of Mice And Men (1939)
13. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939)
14. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
15. The Great Dictator (1940)
16. Citizen Kane (1941)
17. The Face Behind The Mask (1941)
18. Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
19. Holiday Inn (1942)
20. Pride Of The Yankees (1942)
21. To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
22. Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)
23. Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)
24. Going My Way (1944)

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend

25. The Lost Weekend (1945)
26. Blue Skies (1946)
27. The Boy With The Green Hair (1948)
28. White Heat (1949)
29. Harvey (1950)
30. Limelight (1952)
31. The Country Girl (1954)
32. Rear Window (1954)
33. Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
34. Marty (1955)
35. High Society (1956)
36. Twelve Angry Men (1957)
37. Paths Of Glory (1957)
38. Silk Stockings (1957)
39. A Face In The Crowd (1957)
40. Vertigo (1958)
41. North By Northwest (1959)
42. Some Like It Hot (1959)
43. The Music Man (1961)
44. The Hustler (1961)
45. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
46. Gigot (1962)
47. Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (1962)
48. The Great Escape (1963)
49. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason in Soldier In The Rain

50. Soldier In The Rain (1964)
51. In Cold Blood (1967)
52. Planet Of The Apes (1968)
53. The Odd Couple (1968)
54. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
55. Cool Hand Luke (1969)
56. The Godfather (1972)
57. Blazing Saddles (1974)
58. The Towering Inferno (1974)
59. The Godfather II (1974)
60. Young Frankenstein (1974)
61. Jaws (1975)
62. One Who Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
63. Network (1976)
64. Taxi Driver (1976)
65. The Omen (1976)
66. Star Wars (1977)
67. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
68. The Jerk (1979)
69. Kramer VS Kramer (1979)
70. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
71. Caddyshack (1980)
72. The Shining (1980)
73. Raging Bull (1980)

Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack in Airplane!

74. Airplane! (1980)
75. The Elephant Man (1980)
76. Scarface (1983)
77. Return Of The Jedi (1983)
78. The King Of Comedy (1983)
79. A Christmas Story (1983)
80. Back To The Future (1985)
81. The Breakfast Club (1985)
82. Stand By Me (1986)
83. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
84. Goodfellas (1990)
85. Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
86. JFK (1991)
87. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
88. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
89. Forrest Gump (1994)
90. Casino (1995)
91. Donnie Brasco (1997)
92. Being John Malkovich (1999)
93. The Green Mile (1999)
94. Any Given Sunday (1999)

Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago

95. Chicago (2002)
96. Big Fish (2003)
97. Beyond The Sea (2004)
98. Crash (2005)
99. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
100. Sweeney Todd (2007)

Again, these are my favorite movies and not what critics or the public are saying are the best films. Some of these 100 films might be horrible bombs, but they are ones that I like personally. What films did I leave off? Comments are greatly appreciated...

PAST OBITS: JACKIE GLEASON

It is hard to believe that one of the greatest comedian and actors of all time, Jackie Gleason has been gone now for 25 years. This story of Gleason was featured in People magazine at the time of his death on July 13, 1987. Twenty five years later, Gleason is still missed, and his talent will never be repeated or seen again...

Save a table for me, pal." With this wry but heartfelt scribble, sent along with flowers, Jackie Gleason said au revoir to his best friend, Toots Shor, the Manhattan tavern keeper, who died in 1977. Just over a week ago Gleason arrived to claim his reservation. After a three-month battle with cancer of the colon, the Volkswagen-shaped leprechaun who reigned as Mr. Saturday Night during the Golden Age of TV comedy died peacefully at home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 71. "If God wants another joke man," he said just before the end, "I'm ready."

Two days later, while tapes of Melancholy Serenade and other Gleason compositions played softly in the background, some 2,000 mourners filed past his closed casket in a Miami funeral parlor. The next day family and close friends prayed for his soul at a requiem Mass. Geraldine and Linda, Gleason's daughters by his first wife, were there with his widow, Marilyn, and drove with her to Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery. Audrey Meadows, Gleason's co-star in The Honeymooners, was the only famous performer who showed up at the service, but Art Carney, Jackie's close friend and comic sidekick, sent flowers. So did Perry Como, Mickey Rooney and Bob Hope, who spoke for millions when he said: "Jackie was a supercomic, bigger than life as a talent and as a man."



Gleason would surely have agreed. Orson Welles dubbed him "The Great One," and he wore the epithet as proudly as an emperor wears ermine, charming and tickling and bullying us until we took him at his own measure. Gross in physique, gargantuan in gourmandise, oceanic in liquid capacity, prodigal of purse, a fire hose of libido and a Niagara of comic invention, the B man was excess personified and § one of the great entertainers of the I age. He was the last of the dear mad I Irishmen who from Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley) to Frank Fay to Fred Allen have made America laugh at their inspired shenanigans, and he died in an Indian summer of his renown. Yet another generation has fallen in love with his finest work, The Honeymooners, and it is in that vintage series, more than anywhere else, that we can still feel the beating of his big, crazy heart.

Who would have imagined that such a wild Irishman would live to enjoy a happy old age? But he did. He persuaded Gen at last to give him that divorce, weathered another unworkable marriage, this time to ex-secretary Beverly McKittrick, and in 1975 finally wed the widow of his dreams: his old girlfriend Marilyn. Their golden years were not without dark moments—in 1978 Gleason had a triple bypass operation. But he restrained his lust for lunch, had an eye job and a chin tuck, made MasterCard commercials, played the steaming sheriff in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, grew a riverboat-gambler mustache that crawled across his face like a hairy, black caterpillar, built up a multimillion-dollar estate and basked in the afterglow of mass adoration.



What revived the glory that was Gleason? In recent years a creeping fascination with The Honeymooners has become a national addiction. Since they first went into reruns, back in 1958, the 39 episodes Gleason telecast in 1955-56 have never been off the air. Now aired by 100 stations worldwide, the skits have been shown more than 100 times in some areas. In 1985 Gleason gave his Honeymoonies—who have set up the Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of The Honeymooners(R.A.L.P.H.)—a massive bonus of delight. He revealed the existence of "lost" kinescopes of The Jackie Gleason Show, including Honeymooners sketches first telecast between '52 and '57, that had sat unseen for 30 years in a refrigerated vault. For a sum in excess of $5 million, he sold distribution rights to Viacom Enterprises. Edited into 70 new episodes of The Honeymooners, the shows were aired on Showtime in 1986 and then released for syndication.

It's a grand legacy, befitting a grand Irish life. "Almost everything I wanted to do," he said not long ago, "I've been able to do, and most of it turned out pretty good. Everybody's been damn nice to me."

And how would he like to be remembered? "Aw, hell. I'd just like to be remembered."

That he will be...



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MOVIE REVIEW: SOLDIER IN THE RAIN

The film Soldier In The Rain is now available on Warner Brothers Vault series, but for many years the movie collected dust and was never seen. Many people who have seen the movie says it is corny, and fans of Steve McQueen do not like him playing a Gomer Pyle like character, but I think Soldier In The Rain is a charming movie, that I have always enjoyed. I got my DVD copy from a Steve McQueen fan, and it is one of my most cherished movie possessions.

Soldier in the Rain (1963), starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen, is a comedy-drama film about the friendship between an aging Army Master Sergeant (Gleason) and a young country bumpkin buck sergeant (McQueen). Tuesday Weld also stars.

Produced and co-written by Blake Edwards, the screenplay is based on a 1960 novel by William Goldman, who was in the US Army from 1952-1954. The film was directed by Ralph Nelson, who had directed Gleason in Requiem for a Heavyweight the previous year and had a major success with his Lilies of the Field. The film was released five days after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, which didn't help its box office take.

Sergeant Eustis Clay (McQueen) is a peacetime soldier can't wait to finish his service and move on to bigger, better things. He is a personal favorite of Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter (Gleason), a military lifer who is considerably brighter than Eustis but enjoys his company and loyalty.

Eustis is involved in a number of schemes and scams, including one in which he will sell tickets to see an equally dim private named Meltzer run a three-minute mile. He inconveniences Slaughter more than once, including a traffic mishap that requires him being bailed out of jail.

Determined to tempt Slaughter with the joys of civilian life before his hitch is up, Eustis fixes him up on a date with the much-younger, not too bright Bobbi Jo Pepperdine. At first Slaughter is offended but gradually he sees another side of Bobbi Jo, including a mutual fondness for crossword puzzles. Eustis and Slaughter golf together and begin to enjoy the good life.

One night, Eustis is devastated to learn of the death of Donald, his dog. A pair of hated rivals wh use their status as Military Policemen to lure Eustis into a barroom brawl. He is beaten two-against-one and is nearly defeated when Slaughter angrily comes to his rescue. Together they win the fight, but the middle-aged, overweight Slaughter collapses from the effort.

Hospitalized, he delights Eustis by suggesting that they leave the Army together and go live on a tropical isle, surrounded by blue seas and beautiful girls. Slaughter dies, however, and Eustis, a changed man, re-enlists in the Army for another hitch.

Film critic Craig Butler wrote about the film's theme, "An absorbing film that deserves to be much better known, Soldier in the Rain is a sometimes uneasy blend of comedy and drama that doesn't always quite come off, but has so much going for it that one is glad to overlook its flaws. A buddy picture set in the peacetime Army, Soldier is concerned with how a strong friendship can develop between two people of differing personalities and aims. Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen are different types, and the fact that they have such a strong bond may at first seem unlikely, but as the film progresses it somehow seems natural and inevitable. Blake Edwards and Martin Richlin have done an excellent job of adapting William Goldman's novel, and together with director Ralph Nelson have opted to emphasize the character aspects of the material over the plot."

MY RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

JACKIE GLEASON AND UFOS

Orson Welles coined the name "The Great One" for Jackie Gleason, and Welles had good reason to. During his career, Gleason not only was a television icon, but he also made his mark in movies and the recording industry as well. Anything Gleason is involved in, whether good or bad, was worth taking note of. In his personal life, Gleason tackled everything with the same gusto as he did in his career. Even his hobbies, he tackled with highly concentrated interest. One of those hobbies may be surprising to some and that is Gleason's interest in UFOs.

Gleason was an extremely serious armchair UFO researcher, and prided himself on his huge collection of UFO-related books, which numbered into the thousands. As soon as a new title came out, even in Europe or the UK, Jackie had a copy. Little did he suspect that his interest in that topic would one day gain him access to something that most people would never even believe, and would leave others who shared his interests either skeptical or forever jealous.

It was a chance conversation one afternoon, back in 1974 in Florida, while Jackie was playing golf with one of his regular partners, President Richard Nixon. Jackie had mentioned his interest in UFOs and his large collection of books, and the president admitted that he also shared Jackie's interest and had a sizeable collection of UFO-oriented materials of his own. At the time, the president said little about what he actually knew, but things were to change drastically later on that same night.

One can only imagine Gleason's surprise when President Nixon showed up at his house around midnight, completely alone and driving his own private car. When Jackie asked him why he was there, Nixon told him that he wanted to take him somewhere and show him something. He got into the president's car, and they ended up at the gates of Homestead Air Force Base. They passed through security and drove to the far end of the base, to a tightly-guarded building.

At this point, I will quote directly from Gleason himself, from an interview he gave to UFO researcher and author Larry Warren:

"We drove to the very far end of the base in a segregated area, finally stopping near a well-guarded building. The security police saw us coming and just sort of moved back as we passed them and entered the structure. There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases. Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children. Then - upon closer examination - I saw that some of the other figures looked quite old. Most of them were terribly mangled as if they had been in an accident."

Gleason was understandably excited by all of this, but also quite traumatized, and said he couldn't eat or sleep properly for weeks afterwards, and found himself drinking heavily until he was able to regain his composure. His wife at the time, Beverly, recalls him being out very late that night and speaking excitedly about what he had seen when he returned home. Later on, however, when she and Gleason were splitting up and she told the story to a writer at Esquire Magazine, which printed it in an article, relations between her and the entertainer deteriorated and Gleason became very upset and angry that the story had been made public. For this reason many people, including Beverly herself, have wondered at the truth of the story. However, in his interview with Larry Warren, who was invited to Jackie's house in person because Gleason wanted to hear firsthand about Warren's experience at Bentwaters Air Force Base in England, it was clear that Jackie was being honest and sincere:

"You could tell that he was very sincere - he took the whole affair very seriously, and I could tell that he wanted to get the matter off his chest, and that was why he was telling me all of this. Jackie felt just like I do, that the government needs to 'come clean,' and tell us all it knows about space visitors. It's time they stopped lying to the public and release all the evidence they have. When they do, then we'll all be able to see the same things the late Jackie Gleason did."

For a long time the incident affected Gleason. Looking back, his professional output in the mid 1970s suddenly slowed down, which would be the same time he visited the site with President Nixon. Whether or not aliens have visited this planet is another story for another blog, but what I find interesting is the interests of these classic Hollywood stars. Here is Jackie Gleason, The Great One, looking up in the sky and wondering what is out there. It shows that despite Gleason's involvement in show business, he was indeed a renaissance man with a lot of other fascinating interests...

FORGOTTEN FILMS: NOTHING IN COMMON

Normally I would not spotlight a film that was made as recent as 1986, however Nothing In Common does star great classic Hollywood stars like Jackie Gleason and Eva Marie Saint. It is an underrated favorite movie of mine.

The film, released in 1986, was not a great financial success, but it became more popular as Hanks's fame grew. It is considered by some to be a pivotal role in Hanks's career because it marked his transition from less developed comedic roles to becoming a leading actor in more serious stories, while many critics also praised Gleason's performance, which was his last movie. The original music score was composed by Patrick Leonard. The film was marketed with the tagline "On his way up the corporate ladder, David Basner confronts his greatest challenge: his father."

Happy-go-lucky advertising executive David Basner, who recently got a promotion at his Chicago ad agency, returns to work from a vacation. He is utterly carefree until his parents split up after 36 years of marriage.

Out of the blue, he must care for his aging, bitter father Max (played by Gleason), as well as be there for his emotionally fragile mother, Lorraine (played by Eva Marie Saint). To add insult to injury, Max has just been fired from his 35-year career in the garment industry.

At work, David is developing a commercial for Colonial Airlines, owned by the rich and eccentric Andrew Woolridge. A successful ad campaign would likely promote David to partner in his company. David develops a relationship with Woolridge's daughter, no-nonsense Cheryl Ann Wayne. His father is well aware of David's playboy nature. Asking at one point if his son is in bed with a woman, Max adds: "Anybody you know?"

The parents begin to rely more and more on David, calling him on the phone constantly. His mother needs help moving to a new apartment. His father needs to be driven to an eye doctor. Lorraine needs to be rescued in a bar after going out on a date with another man, having become frightened when he tried to kiss her goodnight.

David's mother then confides to him that Max cheated on her and humiliated her. An enraged David goes to confront Max. Their argument ends with David saying: "Tomorrow I'm shooting a commercial about a family who loves each other, who cares about each other. I'm fakin' it."

The next day, David is distracted by the deteriorating relationship with his dad and it affects his work. As a peace offering, David offers to take Max to a nightclub to hear some of the jazz music Max likes. It is there that David accidentally discovers a secret Max has been hiding: diabetes. His foot is gangrened.

Max must go to the hospital. While awaiting surgery, he and Lorraine share their thoughts about their life together, with Lorraine condemning him for doing what he did to himself and to her. Max sobs over his mistakes once he is alone.

At the agency, Andrew Woolridge insists that David go to New York with him to promote his new ad campaign. David refuses, saying he wants to stay with his sick father. Woolridge complains that it's unnecessary. David tells him off and is fired.

The next day, David accompanies his dad to the operating room. His boss Charlie assures him that he will personally smooth things over with Woolridge, so David should take some time off.

Max loses two toes. When he goes home from the hospital, David pushes his wheelchair. Max admits to his son: "You were the last person I thought would come through for me."

Even though I consider this film forgotten and underrated, it is available on DVD...

FORGOTTEN FILMS: GIGOT

People who have seen the forgotten 1962 movie GIGOT seem to either love it or hate it. I am one of the fans of the movie. I saw the movie as a teenager, and it took me a long time to find a good copy of the film. The movie has not been released on DVD - which is a crime. The movie starred the great Jackie Gleason - who was one of the truly underappreciated actors of our times.

Gleason had conceived the story himself years earlier and had long dreamed of making the film. He wanted Orson Welles as director, and Paddy Chayefsky as screenwriter. Though Welles was an old friend, the board at Fox rejected him as being an overspender. Gene Kelly was selected as a compromise. Chayefsky was not interested and John Patrick, writer of Teahouse of the August Moon was signed instead.

The film was shot on location in Paris. Most of the production crew and cast were French, some spoke no English. Gleason bore with this in two ways: Kelly spoke French, and Gleason's character had no lines, being mute.

Gleason was extremely proud of the film, which earned one Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Score. Gleason received a story credit and a music credit. On the other hand, according to the book, The Films of Gene Kelly, by Tony Thomas, Kelly himself said that the movie "had been so drastically cut and reedited that it had little to do with my version"..

Gigot (Gleason) is a mute Frenchman living in the Montmartre district of Paris in the 1920s. He makes a hand-to-mouth living as a janitor at his landlady's apartment building. Though treated with condescension by most of his neighbors (and often the butt of practical jokes), he is much loved by the local children and by animals, whom he often feeds. He seems content with his life, though he has one strange passion: he attends every local funeral, whether or not he knew the departed, marching and crying along with the other mourners.

One rainy evening he returns home to find Collette (Katherine Kath) and her young daughter Nicole (Diane Gardner) sitting in a doorway trying to keep dry. He lets them stay at his apartment. Collette is suspicious of Gigot but young Nicole warms to him.

Gigot takes Nicole to church only to discover she is unbaptized and completely ignorant of what a church is and unaware of God. Nicole points to a crucifix and asks Gigot who that is. Gigot acts out the story of Christ beginning with Mary cradling the baby Jesus, His childhood through to the horror of the crucifixion. Nicole cries a single tear, then blows a kiss to Christ on the cross.

Gigot entertains the little girl by dancing to his old Victrola and by dressing as a waiter to feed a mouse. He is protective of Nicole, once running alongside her on a merry-go-round to make sure she doesn't fall off. It is this protectiveness that leads him to prevent Collette from soliciting a john on a park bench near the merry-go-round. Gigot is beaten by the frustrated man for his troubles.

With their ill-gotten gains, Gigot, Collette and Nicole go on a shopping spree, buying much-needed new clothes for Collette and Nicole and a meal at the local restaurant. Gigot is even persuaded to get a straw boater and a shave. But the good times are not to last -- Collette's ex-boyfriend decides he wants her back, and Collette agrees. She wants to take Nicole, but he persuades her to wait til morning. Gigot is heartbroken. The next morning, Collette finds Gigot and Nicole missing.

The baker discovers the theft, and soon Gigot is a suspect. Two bureaucrats called in by one of Gigot's neighbors have come to (apparently) have Gigot committed. But Gigot and Nicole are only at an abandoned basement, listening to the Victrola while Gigot dances -- with a little too much gusto, though, as the roof falls in. Gigot is unhurt, but Nicole is unconscious.

Frightened, he takes the girl to the church, where the parish priest calls a doctor. Thinking the Victrola may help, he goes back to retrieve it and runs straight into an angry mob. The mob chases Gigot to an old coal loader. Gigot falls into the river and does not resurface.

The locals think Gigot is dead, and organise a funeral for him. Gigot is merely hiding. He sees the funeral march and, as always, follows. When the time comes for the eulogy, he realizes it is he for whom they are holding the service. Suddenly, one of the mourners sees Gigot, and the chase starts again...

JACKIE GLEASON (1917-1987)

In my opinion Jackie Gleason was one of the greatest comedians of all time. Here are some great moments from this wonderful actor...