Joey in the Ring

 Joey again, forever Joey.

I've never seen the whole video of him wrestling. 

He looks in top form, peak condition.

The guy who has him in his arms is so fortunate.

De Kooning in the Thirties and Fourties

 Just some abstractions and figure paintings made by Willem de Kooning when he was hanging around with Graham, Davis and Gorky, learning all he could, and no doubt teaching his mentors some too. These are the works to which his final works harken back. Seeing them, I want to run my hands over their surfaces.  I can see how smooth they must feel.

 

James Caan 1940 - 2022

In honor of his long life and many great performances in great and good movies, here are some frames from his early ones of note. He and Hawks must have hit it off.  Red Line 7000 is brilliant but awkward.  Some say it was laughed off the screen.  I wasn't there.  I don't know....  It holds up well, though, and his scenes above all else.  It's kind of great, more than a little weird but great. Late Hawks letting it all hang out.  He really lets Caan explode. 

The Rain People is as much Caan's film as Shirley Knight's.  His character even gives it its title. Knight and Caan play so well together. Robert Duvall is great too, but those two in the car are the heart of the film. It's my favorite early Coppola. 

El Dorado was Hawks following his established formula, which he had every right to do, since it was truly his. Because it was enough of a hit, it helped make Caan a rising star.  He really blossomed with Hawks, and Coppola made him an even bigger star with the Godfather.  Eventually he would get to star opposite Barbra, a true honor. That was in Herbert Ross' Funny Lady. He played Billy Rose. May his name be a blessing. RIP.