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Reviews
Theatre 625: Talking to a Stranger (1966)
Topnotch miniseries from the golden age of TV
I saw "Talking to a Stranger" when it was first telecast in the US back in the 1960s. I recall it vividly as a great piece of writing, directing, casting, and acting. What a superb idea, telling the same story from four different viewpoints--and with such telling dramatic and thematic impact!
Few telecasts have remained in memory that long or that vividly. And nearly all of them hearken back to the 1960s--or even the late 1950s, when live television dominated the teledramas and comedies. Newton Minnow, who described TV then as a "vast wasteland," must be rolling in his grave over the shallow, tasteless stuff on TV today.
I sure wish I could rent "Talking to a Stranger" on DVD, or even VHS, because I would love to get reacquainted with this small masterpiece of television art.
The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
Krupa deserved better--a LOT better
I give this one three-and-a-half stars: one for Krupa's off-screen drumming; one for Sal Mineo's credible imitation of Krupa at the drums (makes one wonder what Mineo's drumming sounded like), and one for Shelly Manne's appearance on screen as Dave Tough. The rest of the movie cumulatively rates less than a star.
Musician film biographies are known for their "artistic license," but this one was so far off the mark as to be ridiculous. So many inaccuracies in the plot, I can't begin to list them. Even the musical selections were incredibly off the mark. And it's hard to believe that Krupa saw and signed off on this script or the rushes, because the movie made him look like one of the music world's shallowest, most self-centered, and destructive creeps. He was no angel, but he wasn't the showboating Satan pictured here.