boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (10/09/85)
I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone, but I'm surprised that no one has commented
on Rock Hudson's death last week.
Hudson has had a poor rep for the last 20+ years because of his "Doris Day
movie" period. It's too bad that he'll be remembered as a frivolous actor
because of those films. On the contrary, I've always liked Hudson as an
actor. He was never outstanding, but I feel that most of the time (no one
hits 100%) he put in a good, solid performance. If anything was lacking in
his career, it was that he appeared in a few real dogs (n.b. I don't include
the Doris Day movies in this category; I rather liked them).
His death was untimely and tragic, but the publicity about his condition has
helped an uncounted number of people by bringing serious attention to a
serious disease. It's too bad that he had to die for Congress to double its
expenditure for AIDS research, but if some good comes of it, it won't be so
bad.
R.I.P., Rock.
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAbobn@bmcg.UUCP (Bob Nebert) (10/11/85)
> > I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone, but I'm surprised that no one has commented > on Rock Hudson's death last week. > Maybe people have the guilts from all the jokes and and when someone dies its not funny anymore.:wq
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (10/15/85)
> I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone, but I'm surprised that no one has commented > on Rock Hudson's death last week. Perhaps it is because there was nothing to be said? We all knew he was dying, and he died. That wasn't news. And he quit making movies many years ago, so the fact that he won't be making any more movies isn't exactly news either. This is net.movies, after all... -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {calcom1,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug
jimc@haddock.UUCP (10/20/85)
> On the contrary, I've always liked Hudson as an actor. He was > never outstanding, but I feel that most of the time (no one hits > 100%) he put in a good, solid performance. I thought quite highly of _MacMillan_and_Wife_, which ran on NBC in the early 70's. Rock Hudson, having the lead role, showed a good deal of presence and inventiveness. I did not like Susan Saint James much, but then I never have. An even more impressive performance was in the NBC miniseries adaptation of Ray Bradbury's _The_Martian_Chronicles_ (1979), in which Hudson played one of the first explorers and colonizers of the planet Mars. The scene where Hudson reacted to watching the world be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust was quite convincing. Jim Campbell harvard --+ ihnp4 --+ allegra --+----!ima!haddock!jimc bbncca --+ decvax --+
mbate@ada-uts.UUCP (10/21/85)
My personal favorite Rock Hudson film was John Frankenheimer's
_Seconds_, made in the 60's when Frankenheimer, who had earlier been
a television director, did his best work (_Seven Days in May_, _Manchurian
Candidate_). These films, incidentally - like his TV work - were all
in black and white.
_Seconds_ is a Faustian shocker in which a middle aged banker
pays a sum of money to "the Company" to have plastic surgery (they
also stage his "death") and emerge for a second chance in life looking
like Rock Hudson.
The film is notable for its surreal atmosphere, achieved in part
by camera work that produces a dreamlike atmosphere with long dolly shots,
extreme wide angle lenses, and extreme closeups.
I wish it were available for home video, but it is shown on tele-
vision occasionally.