CONFESSIONS OF A FILM FOX

CONFESSIONS OF A FILM FOX

Hedda Hopper (May she rest in peace) is turning over in her grave with the dirt uncovered’ this month. Rona Barrett wishes she had such news: Woody Allen currently filming Sleeper is also considering writing a tasteless screenplay called Sex and Death... Marjoe, the religioso r‘n’r star, is trying his hand at legitimate (TV?) acting. Gortner is playing a suspected killer with Telly Savalas in CBS movie, Justice in the Back Room. He deserves it... The popular peacenik, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, has sold 3,000,000 in hardcover and 6,500,000 in paperback, so far. Sp, of course, Paramount has ca!ptured the bird for a soaringhit movie. While on location, Jonathan is well-cared for in his own suite . .. J. J. Jackson is composing and conducting the score for The Police Connection. “It’s Aw-right.” The story of Eddie Egan’s (also in The French Connection) experiences as a NYC detective was formerly called Badge 3773. Guess who’s? ... The Cannes Film Festival will, celebrate Warner Brothers Golden Anniversary by showing some of their 1500 pictures and lotsa fanfare. Happy 50th Birthday, Warners! ... The Sundancing duo, Paul Newman and Robert Red(ord are together agaiq for Te Sting. Holy Hot Stuff! ... Now that we’re out (almost), here comes the deluge of Vietnam War movies with it. An interesting one is Flowers of Evil, on location in the Golden Triangle in Indocjiina which provides the world with 70 percent of its smack. The director of In Cold Blood, Richard Brooks, wrote the screenplay from Alfred McCoy’s “The Politics of Heroin in S.E. Asia” ... To Kill The King, a movie about a plot to assasinate the U.S. President, had to be shot in Canada. It stars Susan Tyrell and Barry Morse ... Lee J. Cobb and George Hamilton joined the cast of The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, starring Burt Reynolds and Sarah Miles. Ms. Miles manager, David Whiting, curiously committed suicide and an inquest followed, barring all press from the set. The screenwriter, Eleanor Perry is divorcing Frank Perry (Play It As It Lays) .. . More bad news: David Cassidy lost his bid to star in Forty Carats, (the Broadway hit) to Edward Albert (who got thrown off his bike on location. Instant Karma!?) But Davey has his fingers crossed for a part in The Dove, a Gregory Peck Production. Better than that Seagull... Speaking of Sixteen idols — Bobby Sherman’s a Daddy. His secret wife, Patti Camel (!) recently gave birth to Christopher Noel. It’s a boy ... The Boys in the Bank, about the infamous bank robbery by “Little John Basso’’ to finance sex change operation for his boyfriend, Ernest Aron, is underway. So is Ernest... Ed McMahon, Budweiser buff and Johnny Carson’s left arm, is up against Jim Brown in Slaughter II as Duncan . .. Myrtle, in The Great Gatsby is played by Lois Chiles, who co-starred in Barbra Streisand’s latest The Way We Were with Robert Redford. Redford and Mia Farrow are the stars of the Fitzgerald Jazz Age story .,. . Johnny Cash’s version of Jesus Christ Superstar, The Gospel Road, features Cash and his wife, June Carter, singing and dancing their way to heaven. The soundtrack was scored by Cash plus a number by John Denver .. . Remember Kim Novak? She’s taken Rita Hayworth’s place in Tales That Witness Madness after Rita fooled the doctors with a tall tale of being sick and then flew the coop, which definitely caused nausea among the producers .. . Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey are scraping the top of the barrel with TV specials for Carlo Ponti on Frankenstein and Dracula... Roberta Flack has accepted the role of Bessie Smith in the screen biography. Killing me softly indeed... MGM is suing Isaac Hayes for $1,000,000 plus! He allegedly broke his seven year contract by performing in Columbia’s Wattstax. He cares — he just signed up for another pic — Two Tough Guys ... With the advent of Xaviera Holland’s second book, ghostwriter Robin Moore, is searching for a lead for The Happy Hooker which he’ll also direct... John Wayne, now making McQ, made an LP for RCA — America, Why I Love Her (what else?) including poems by Robert Mitchum ... Jimmy Webb has scored The Naked Ape, a Universal/ Playboy Picture, toplining Johnny (The Rifleman) Crawford and Victoria Principal. It’s an adaptation of Desmond Morris’ book not a Planet of the Apes sequel, though it should be . .. More Poop on Last Tango in Paris: Bologna officials have banned the “classic” from ever playing in Italy again. Tango has made $41,280 in the first week at one theatre alone so director Bertolucci isn’t bothered. He’s busy with plans for 1900. Wonder if this is the project he and Brando were recently seen arranging together. We’ll soon know ;.. See you next month ... ^

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