 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
Watched the original TV theatrical release on video recently of "Requiem
For A Heavyweight"; starring Jack Palance, Keenan & Ed Wynn and Kim
Hunter; shown on U.S. Steel Hour in 1956. The video featured interviews with Palance and Keenan Wynn, hosted by Jack Klugh (in color);
rest in B&W. Teleplay by Rod Serling; won 5 awards, including Emmy for
Serling. Directed by Ralph Nelson.
And what a heavyweight performance by all! The main casting problem was
with Ed Wynn, who had never played a serious role, only comedic. However, after false starts, conflicts, consternation and doubt, the decision was made to let Ed go
ahead, even though it was live, with no retakes. Fortunately, Ed came
through with flying colors. Highly recommended viewing.
Made into big screen version in 1961 or 62, with Anthony Quinn, Jackie
Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Muhammed Ali as the fighter who beats up
Quinn. Saw this film long ago and don't remember it well, so don't want
to make a comparsion of the two. Again directed by Nelson and scripted by
Serling with added footage. - AH
Some of those old kinescope live performances are great and "Requiem" probably tops the list. Also very good is Rod Steiger as "Marty".
I frequently reference the ten volume set, "The Motion Picture Guide",
whom, IMO, have excellent reviews of films between 1927 and 1983, edited
by Jay Nash and Stanley Ross. The review there gives the 1962 movie a
3&1/2 * rating out of a possible 5 *; pretty good. They consider Palance's
performance as very good, but Quinn's to be better, in fact, the best
performance of his career. Gleason and Rooney are lauded also for their
supporting performances. To make the film longer than the original, producers
added scenes that were originally axed by director Nelson, which consequently, turned out to be the precise weak points of the movie.
"The Motion Picture Guide" reviewers also said that the movie was technically weaker than the original TV version, mainly because of the
slow, repetitious scenes that were originally cut being restored; and inferior
scene transitions.
On the IMDb site, the TV version received a whopping 8.7 rating (out of
a possible 10) from 43 votes cast; and the movie version received a very
good rating of 7.9 (out of 79 votes). - AH
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
