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Cleveland R&B vocalist to make Akron debut
Actor Bernsen enjoying ride of derby movie project
End of an era: Oprah ending show after 25 years
Ohio native takes second place on 'Project Runway'
'New Moon' casts spell on fans
'The Blind Side' scores as feel-good crowd-pleaser
'Planet 51' is sci-fi animation lite
Barrymore's 1945 film co-stars Garson, Peck
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Man allegedly paid teens to spit in his face
Retired firefighter who broke color barrier among those being honored
Indians add 7 players to 40-man roster
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Two blowouts, one night
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Singletary update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Indiana Pacers – Here’s to LBJ and Free Throws
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Bowling season starts today
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Federal Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Thursday, Oct 29, 2009
If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag . . .
Q: Can you tell me the name of the song on the commercial for Travelers Insurance. Something like ''Trouble,'' where a cute dog is worried about his bone and can't rest til he gets it insured. I love that commercial and the dog.
A: The song is called Trouble and is performed by Ray LaMontagne. You can learn more about him at http://www.raylamontagne.com.
Q: I was in Sweden this summer and watched an episode of ''Huff'' with Hank Azaria and Blythe Danner. It was awesome! When I returned to the States I was able to locate the complete first season and am hooked. Unfortunately, the episode I saw in Sweden was not on the DVD. How many seasons were there? Can I buy them? How can it be I never heard of this show?
A: I cannot really answer that last question. Huff, starring Azaria as a troubled psychiatrist, aired on Showtime for two seasons in 2004-06, with a total of 26 episodes. It won three Emmys, including two for Danner as best supporting actress in a drama. But so far only the first season has been released on DVD.
Q: I was a big fan of the ''Ally McBeal'' series. Nobody seems to show reruns of it, nor can I find it in the video stores. How come?
A: While it took some time to get to DVD, the complete series has been released in a single package, and there is a separate DVD release of the show's first season.
Q: Love your column! Two of my favorite movies are ''Humoresque'' with Joan Crawford and John Garfield, and ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Are these available on DVD? I haven't seen them lately on TCM or AMC.
A: Both films have been released on DVD. If your local video retailer will not get or order either title, try an online seller like Amazon.com.
Q: I am trying to find a Sally Field movie — with Judy Davis, I think — where Sally is hired as a maid in a difficult New England household. Might it be on DVD and/or available from Netflix?
A: The movie is A Cooler Climate, which first aired on Showtime in 1999. It was released on VHS, and I have seen old copies in that format for sale, but I do not know of an authorized DVD version.
Q: In the late '60s I saw a full-length movie (in parts) at my high school during lunch. It was not a new movie, obviously. It had Lloyd Bridges in it as a scuba diver. He rescued some people from a Latin American island, using an underwater inflatable room as a base and swimming in and cutting the bars of an underwater intake conduit to gain covert access to the island. Can you help identify it?
A: You saw Daring Game, a 1968 film starring Bridges, and produced by Ivan Tors, who also had worked with Bridges on TV's Sea Hunt.
''Credit Mr. Tors and company with coming up with such devices as . . . Instant Underwater Habitat, or 'Igloo,' a contraption dropped from a plane and then inflated on the ocean floor to bungalow proportions, to thwart the villains,'' the New York Times noted when the film premiered.
Q: One of my all-time favorite movies is ''The World According to Garp.'' It starred Robin Williams, John Lithgow, Glenn Close, etc. Yet you never hear these stars mention this movie in their credits. I know the critics were not crazy about this film but I was. Why isn't it ever mentioned?
A: I like the movie, too. But you overstate its neglect. Robin Williams' bio, for example, lists it. And this is from Glenn Close's bio for the FX series Damages: ''Glenn Close made her feature film debut in George Roy Hill's The World According to Garp. Her performance in the film earned her awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review as well as an Academy Award nomination.'' If you don't hear the actors talking about the movie, maybe it's just that — considering all the other things they have done — they don't get asked about it.
•
Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions.
Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter.
If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag . . .
Q: Can you tell me the name of the song on the commercial for Travelers Insurance. Something like ''Trouble,'' where a cute dog is worried about his bone and can't rest til he gets it insured. I love that commercial and the dog.
A: The song is called Trouble and is performed by Ray LaMontagne. You can learn more about him at http://www.raylamontagne.com.
Q: I was in Sweden this summer and watched an episode of ''Huff'' with Hank Azaria and Blythe Danner. It was awesome! When I returned to the States I was able to locate the complete first season and am hooked. Unfortunately, the episode I saw in Sweden was not on the DVD. How many seasons were there? Can I buy them? How can it be I never heard of this show?
A: I cannot really answer that last question. Huff, starring Azaria as a troubled psychiatrist, aired on Showtime for two seasons in 2004-06, with a total of 26 episodes. It won three Emmys, including two for Danner as best supporting actress in a drama. But so far only the first season has been released on DVD.
Q: I was a big fan of the ''Ally McBeal'' series. Nobody seems to show reruns of it, nor can I find it in the video stores. How come?
A: While it took some time to get to DVD, the complete series has been released in a single package, and there is a separate DVD release of the show's first season.
Q: Love your column! Two of my favorite movies are ''Humoresque'' with Joan Crawford and John Garfield, and ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Are these available on DVD? I haven't seen them lately on TCM or AMC.
A: Both films have been released on DVD. If your local video retailer will not get or order either title, try an online seller like Amazon.com.
Q: I am trying to find a Sally Field movie — with Judy Davis, I think — where Sally is hired as a maid in a difficult New England household. Might it be on DVD and/or available from Netflix?
A: The movie is A Cooler Climate, which first aired on Showtime in 1999. It was released on VHS, and I have seen old copies in that format for sale, but I do not know of an authorized DVD version.
Q: In the late '60s I saw a full-length movie (in parts) at my high school during lunch. It was not a new movie, obviously. It had Lloyd Bridges in it as a scuba diver. He rescued some people from a Latin American island, using an underwater inflatable room as a base and swimming in and cutting the bars of an underwater intake conduit to gain covert access to the island. Can you help identify it?
A: You saw Daring Game, a 1968 film starring Bridges, and produced by Ivan Tors, who also had worked with Bridges on TV's Sea Hunt.
''Credit Mr. Tors and company with coming up with such devices as . . . Instant Underwater Habitat, or 'Igloo,' a contraption dropped from a plane and then inflated on the ocean floor to bungalow proportions, to thwart the villains,'' the New York Times noted when the film premiered.
Q: One of my all-time favorite movies is ''The World According to Garp.'' It starred Robin Williams, John Lithgow, Glenn Close, etc. Yet you never hear these stars mention this movie in their credits. I know the critics were not crazy about this film but I was. Why isn't it ever mentioned?
A: I like the movie, too. But you overstate its neglect. Robin Williams' bio, for example, lists it. And this is from Glenn Close's bio for the FX series Damages: ''Glenn Close made her feature film debut in George Roy Hill's The World According to Garp. Her performance in the film earned her awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review as well as an Academy Award nomination.'' If you don't hear the actors talking about the movie, maybe it's just that — considering all the other things they have done — they don't get asked about it.
•
Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions.
Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter.
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