Ice Bucket

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After hearing yesterday of his death, I tried to recall a vivid movie memory pertaining to Sydney Sheldon, the very successful screenwriter, TV producer, Broadway producer and hack romance-novel author. I thought and thought, and the only thing that punched through was a moment from 1977, when I was watching The Other Side of Midnight -- a somewhat grotesque soap-opera about an ambitious hottie (Marie France Pisier) climbing her way to wealth and privelege through a series of relationships with ambitious and/or powerful men -- in a small theatre in Westport, Connecticut.

I'm speaking of the pseudo-legendary ice-bucket scene between Pisier and Raf Vallone, playing an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, and a moment when a naked Pisier, riding Vallone like an equestrian, grabs a handful of ice cubes from a nearby bucket and, at the moment of orgasm, mashes the ice into Vallone's privates. The camera doesn't show this -- we are shown only an insert shot of Pisier's hand scooping up the ice, and then we hear Vallone moan like a large animal who's just been speared.

No offense to Sheldon's memory, but that, for me, in my moviegoing life, is the most memorable thing that Sheldon produced, and for all I know the scene wasn't even in the book -- it may have been an invention by Herman Raucher, the screenwriter who adapted Sheldon's book, or director Charles Jarrott.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 31, 2007 at 6:26 AM

comment #1

mitch says ...

Jeff: what purpose does this bit of commentary serve?

Posted by mitch at January 31, 2007 7:31 AM

comment #2

Bandersnatch says ...

Well, it certainly can't compare to a scene like that (!), but I have a weakness for "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." I think the restaurant scene is hilarious (Myrna to Cary: "Shut up! Thank you for a lovely evening!") and movies that make fun of Rudy Vallee are always a treat (cf. "The Palm Beach Story.") So I thank the late Mr. Sheldon for that.

Posted by Bandersnatch at January 31, 2007 8:13 AM

comment #3

christian says ...

actually, sheldon's academy award for BACHELOR may not be deserved, but it's one of grant's funniest comedies. the best part forever ingrained on my mind is when grant turns into a college hipster replete with coat and flags as he rambles off the parlance of bobby soxer youth...one of grant's comedy highlights imho.

Posted by christian at January 31, 2007 9:04 AM

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

Sheldon wasn't Ibsen, but he created I Dream of Jeannie, and brought Barbara Eden in a harem costume to the American living room. A guy could be remembered for worse things.

Posted by Rich S. at January 31, 2007 10:00 AM

comment #5

ArchiveGuy says ...

"actually, sheldon's academy award for BACHELOR may not be deserved"

**MAY** not be deserved? Over Chaplin, Polonsky, & "Shoeshine"?!?!? Quite possibly the worst winner (over the most formidable competition) in the history of the Academy's writing branch.

Posted by ArchiveGuy at January 31, 2007 10:31 AM

comment #6

Walter Sobchak says ...

Same old same old. Someone dies and Jeffrey says, "Not to be disrespectful, but this is what I didn't like about the guy..."

Posted by Walter Sobchak at January 31, 2007 10:33 AM

comment #7

dobbsy says ...

Right the eff on, Sobchak: Wells pulled this shit when Carlo Ponti died. Here's a good rule to follow - A little respect for the dead, especially when they achieved success and created/contibuted to as many interesting and quality works as these two gents.

In other words, if you haven't produced masterworks of European cinema, written a Cary Grant movie, several Broadway musicals, created hit TV series and written books that entertain millions and millions of people, why not let the souls of those who have move along into the mystic accompanied only by your silence and maybe a little grudging respect.

Mamet on Sheldon, maybe I'd be willing to hear the dis after a time.

Wells on Sheldon before the body's cold, I ain't ready for it now, nor ever...

Posted by dobbsy at January 31, 2007 10:42 AM

comment #8

cockeye says ...

I agree with the other posters - nice way to remember someone who just passed! Not one good thing to say?
And, Jeff, you're wrong. Raf Vallone was in the movie and did play one of Marie-France Pisier's lovers, but he wasn't the "ice bucket" man - that was actor Christian Marquand.

Posted by cockeye at January 31, 2007 11:06 AM

comment #9

berg says ...

You look like the man ... What man? ... The man with the power ... the power of Hoodoo ... Who do? ... You do

Posted by berg at January 31, 2007 11:09 AM

comment #10

christian says ...

that's the line! my fave!

Posted by christian at January 31, 2007 11:35 AM

comment #11

T. S. Idiot says ...

I just heard that Jeff Wells, who attained a certain notoriety in the early twentieth century for his occasionally informative and amusing blog about movies--with a little politics--has passed away at the ripe age of 99. I vaguely remember visiting his site almost every day for a time looking for pearls of wisdom and insight and found a few. I also seem to remember his propensity for being a real asshole at times. Of course, my memory may be a little faulty here, though I'm not aware of any other failings on my part.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at January 31, 2007 12:30 PM

comment #12

VedaPierce says ...

What a prolific and talented man, one who knew how to bring pleasure to a lot of people through every major entertainment medium.

I mean, he's no Sarah Silverman, but it's a great loss nonetheless.

Posted by VedaPierce at January 31, 2007 1:19 PM

comment #13

nemo says ...

I can't believe all this criticism. Sidney Sheldon was a class A shlock meister, in a class with Aaron Spelling.

Carlo Ponti was shlock-purveying sleazeball as well, but at least he had credits like Doctor Zhivago, Blowup, and The Passenger to his name. What does Sidney Sheldon have? Zip. He deserves to have someone take a crap on his fresh grave.

So did Aaron Spelling when he died last June, but for some reason Wells fell down on the job. Just because a guy died, we're supposed to forget all the crappy things he did in this life? This is as bad as the rehab job the media did on Nixon when he died.

That said, I do agree that there is something to be said for the guy that brought Barbara Eden in a harem costume to the American living room.

Posted by nemo at January 31, 2007 4:51 PM

comment #14

dobbsy says ...

Nemo: your posting succinctly sums up what is worthless and sad about the blogosphere. what have you accomplished so we can "crap on your grave?" my guess is: nothing. so we can save our defecation for people who actually did something with their lives and compare guys who wrote and produced movies and tv shows and broadway musicals, whatever their qualities or lack thereof (yep, sheldon won a tony and an oscar) to richard nixon. send us your credits now, nemo, or shut the fuck up. there's a place for dissing their works; it's called criticism. that's not what you are practicing. it's called: stupidity.

Posted by dobbsy at February 1, 2007 9:25 AM

comment #15

The Movie Man says ...

Guys, the smug, superior obit is one of Wells's oldest tricks to (I assume) rile everyone up and boost comments. It's annoying, its predictable, but we need to take some responsibility ourselves and stop taking the bait.

Posted by The Movie Man at February 1, 2007 10:45 AM

comment #16

dobbsy says ...

Thanks, Movie Man, you're right. I feel silly and sullied. But I do think it says something about the posting community (I be in that too) that there's this relish to demean and denigrate for no visible reason. Dialogue about what makes a piece of art work or otherwise is stimulating; "crapping on graves" when the poster probably has never created anything of merit is demeaning and pointless. Taking the bait, as you say, is perhaps even more stupid. I'm done...

Posted by dobbsy at February 1, 2007 12:20 PM

comment #17