Classic Movie Update, 6/13

Raquel.

By Jason Apuzzo. • The biggest classic movie news by far this week was the discovery in New Zealand of a treasure trove of silent films thought previously lost, including a print of John Ford’s film, Upstream.  LFM contributor Jennifer Baldwin covered this story yesterday, including the fundraising efforts of the movie-blogging community toward film preservation.  Check Jennifer’s post for full details on these efforts, as well as links if you wish to contribute.  You can also read more about the New Zealand discovery and ongoing preservation efforts in The New York Times or in The LA Times.

• The New York Times also did a joint review of the new autobiographies out by Raquel Welch and Pam Grier - Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage and Pam’s Foxy: My Life in Three Acts.  These two extraordinary ladies were the top cult movie heroines of their era, although Raquel’s career also crossed over into big mainstream faire.  Raquel recently had some electrifying appearances on Fox News (especially her hilarious interview with Neil Cavuto), and also guest hosted on Turner Classic Movies a few months ago.  Both of these ladies are still going strong, looking fabulous, and are dispensing a lot of good advice to the young women of today.  And can we all agree that Beyond the Cleavage is easily the greatest title ever?  (Surpassing even Russ Meyer’s 3-volume autobiography, A Clean Breast.)  You can buy both Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage and Foxy: My Life in Three Acts in the LFM Store below, along with some of Raquel and Pam’s best films.

• A new Charlie Chan box set is out from Turner Classic Movies.  Pick up a copy in the LFM Store below.

• Can it be 35 years since Jaws came out?  Apparently it is.  Next week marks the 35th anniversary of Jaws’ release!  I still remember seeing the film with my grandmother when it came out … and I still think it’s the best non-Indiana Jones film Spielberg’s ever made, with really nothing surpassing it as a thriller except maybe Hitchcock’s Psycho.  Jaws and Star Wars together are probably the greatest summer movies of all time, films that really defined the moviegoing era of the 1970’s.  There’s a documentary that’s been making the rounds the last few years called The Shark is Still Working about the making of Jaws and the film’s impact on our culture, and the doc just had a screening yesterday at the Portland Underground Film Festival.  Best wishes to the filmmakers on that, and Happy 35th to Jaws.  You can buy a copy of Jaws in the LFM Store above.

• AND FINALLY … Andy Warhol’s classic print of Elizabeth Taylor has gone up for sale. I have a bid in but it’s probably on the low side …

Posted on June 13th, 2010 at 3:51pm.