I love talking about movies but Ive never been able to organize movie-night get-togethers So this is the next best thing On Tuesdays Im going to spotlight a DVD and suggest some virtual-discussion startersIn honor of the late great Jack Palance born Vladimir Palahnuik in 1919 who died on November 10 age 87 my recommendation this week is Panic in the Streets 1950 Shot on location in New Orleans Elia Kazans thriller stars Richard Widmark as a US Public Health Service investigator forced to infiltrate the citys seedy underbelly in hopes of preventing an outbreak of the plague In an age when emerging diseases can travel across the world in 24 hours the story is still all too timely Palance plays petty gangster Blackie whos been exposed to the plague virus Its an electrifying movie debut Anyone who thinks of this actor only as the feisty old guy doing one-armed push-ups at the 1991 Academy Awards ceremony when he won an Oscar for his comic supporting pe
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Everybody Hates ChrisJust when I was thinking that Chris' little sister Tanya was the reincarnation of Dee from What's Happening!! (yes, the official title really has two exclamation points), Chris came out of the changing room wearing his Rerun outfit. It was picture day, and he was desperately shopping for the right ensemble. He looked pretty fresh in the Don King, covered from head to toe in red. (Actually it looked like what Marilyn Manson wore on the back cover of The Golden Age of Grotesque. Look it up.) But ultimately, he settled on a less flashy suede top. I love what Julius said when Chris insisted he needed special clothes. "When I was a kid, we didn't have special clothes. Just having clothes was special." He always has to on
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