Let’s hear it for the opening of the Fred MacMurray Museum in the Heritage Village Mall in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. It’s opening partly to commemorate the fact that MacMurray, a Beaver Dam resident in his youth, was born 100 years ago. And because he was famous and well-liked for his quick smile, amiable nature and sure touch with comedies. But MacMurray’s rep would be nothing if he hadn’t played a couple of weak, selfish and gone-astray insurance guys in a pair of first-rate Billy Wilder films.
It was MacMurray’s portrayal of Walter Neff, the insurance salesman who couldn’t keep his mind off Phyllis Dietrichson‘s anklets, in Double Indemnity that rescued him from the amiable good-guy thing. He was saved again when he played Jeff Sheldrake, the selfish and manipulative chief of a New York insurance company in The Apartment. Without these two, news of the MacMurray Museum would be limited to local Wisconsin papers and T stations because people like me wouldn’t care that much.
All MacMurray had on his resume otherwise was…okay, Keefer in The Caine Mutiny, but that film belong to Van Johnson and Jose Ferrer. But otherwise his resume was one light and amiable deal after another — My Three Sons, the ’60s TV series, and Bon Voyage, Follow Me, Boys!, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Egg and I, Trail of the Lonesome Pine, etc. Gimme a break.

My father, James T. Wells, Jr., had 86 years of good living, mostly. He was miserable at the end, lying in a bed and watching TV, reading and sleeping and not much else. I think he wanted to go because his life had been reduced to this. He was a good and decent man with solid values, and he certainly did right by me and my brother and sister as far as providing and protecting us and doing what he could to help us build our own lives.

But he was also, to me, a crab and a gruff, hidden-away soul (his Guam and Iwo Jima traumas as a Marine during World War II mashed him up him pretty badly) and even, it seemed at times, something of a bitter curmudgeon. But not altogether.

I feel very badly for his suffering the indignities of old age and the mostly horrible life he lived over his final year or two. I know that whatever issues I have with my manner, attitude or personality, it is my charge alone to deal with, modify and correct them. But I also know deep down that Jim Wells was the father of it. He lived in a pit so deep and dark you needed a kleig light to see around.

He was a lifelong Democrat who hated John Wayne for his pro-war posturings. He liked Simon and Garfunkle but never got the Beatles,which always flabbergasted me. He actually thought that Michael Herr‘s Dispatches was a waste of time. My brother tried to get him to watch The Limey and he wouldn’t do it. He lived in his own world and could be a real pain to hang with at times. He was foul and nasty and a snappy contrarian about everything during a trip we took to Lake George about 12 years ago. My son Dylan (who was with us) and I did everything we could to escape his company.

I distinctly remember feeling tear-struck in 1986 when I learned of the death of Cary Grant, whom I’d always regarded as a beloved debonair uncle of sorts. I didn’t feel anything close to that when I heard the news about my dad the night before last. The truth is the truth.

The best thing that happened between the two of us is that by living a kind of cautionary life, he taught me not to be like him. Because he was an aloof, non-affectionate prick with a martini glass in his hand during my childhood, I made a point of being constantly loving and physically affectionate with my kids, and it woke me up to the perils of vodka and lemonade in the mid ’90s. My habit these days is to constantly watch my behavior for the sins of Jim Wells-iness, and when I notice myself acting like him, I correct myself.

In the summer of ’05 I raised a glass of respect to a former next-door neighbor named Doc Sharer at his 80th birthday party at his home in Westfield, New Jersey. I told him it was my ambition to have his joie de vivre and spirited attitude when I got be his age. I don’t ever want to be like my father was, save for his steadiness and creativity and devotion to history books. And yet he did give me the writing bug and the wit and the wiseass attitude.

We went to a 20th Century Fox gathering on the lot a few years ago, and I remember saying aloud upon reading the menu that they would be serving “island food.” Without missing a beat, he looked at me with a solemn expression and said, “Staten Island.” I also introduced him to Tony Curtis during that trip. I remember that he gave Curtis a book of writings by Samuel Johnson.

That was my dad. I’m sorry for my mom and what she must be going through (which I can only guess at) but I’m fine with working and posting today because in personal-emotional terms the man was never a pillar of support or strength for me. The bottom line for me is that he was the guy who did what he could given his baggage and whatnot — he supported me financially and helped me out of three or four jams when I was a struggling New York journalist — but emotionally and spiritually he was a lousy dad and knew it. He told me this in so many words in a rare moment of candor in the mid ’70s. He wasn’t cut out for it.

And one result is that he contributed greatly to psychological and emotional factors that prodded me into being a malcontent — an anti-authoritarian rebel — and which almost turned me into an under-achieving suburban loser. Thank God I had the spirit and the moxie — summoned entirely on my own with no help from anyone — to climb out of that hole.

I trust my father is now at peace. He seemed to find little enough of it while he was alive. He may have known an entire spiritual life that was wonderful and serene for all I know, but the art of the man’s life is that whatever good things were going on inside, he kept most of them hidden.

Get Smart‘s first-choice number was 26 compared to 12 for The Love Guru, so it’s no surprise that Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Duane Johnson and Alan Arkin have kicked Mike Myers‘ backside. Smart will end up with $36,627,000 and $9300 a print by Sunday night. The Love Guru opened and closed with a projected $13,976,000 and $4600 a print. Game over.
The Incredible Hulk will make $21,171,000 by Sunday night, which represents a drop from last weekend of about 62%. Not a good hold, especially given that Hulk is not going against another big action film this weekend. It was off 70% last night from previous Friday. On its second Friday Ang Lee‘s Hulk dropped 76.5% with an average weekend fall of 67% or thereabouts, so the new Hulk is doing a little better, but not by much.
Kung Fu Panda will make $20,873,000 — off 36% from last weekend. A decent hold. The Happening will cbe off 67% by Sunday night — a weekend tally of $9,973,000. Indy 4 will make $8070. The total cume is over $290 million, meaning it’s sure to crest $300 million. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan willl make a projected $7,031,000 this weekend, off 57% — it’ll be a push to $100 million.
Sex and the City will hit $6,170,000 — off 37%, $132 million cume. Iron Man has topped $300 million with this weekend’s take of $4,034.000.
Tracking on Disney/Pixar’s WALL*E (opening 5.27) is 84, 41, 10 — a very strong number one week out for an animated feature. Wanted (also 6.27) is tracking at 75, 40 and 5 — fair, not so hot. Will Smith‘s Hancock (7.1) is running at 85,52 and 16 — huge. Guillermo del Toro‘s Hellboy (7.11) is tracking at 69, 33 and 5…okay, decent, not stupendous. Journey to The Center of the Earth (7.11) is running at 59, 17 and 2 — trouble.
Eddie Murphy‘s Meet Dave (also 7.11) is running at 36, 17 and 0 — a bad number no matter how you slice it. I’m guessing that the regular folks started to sour on the guy when the news got out that he bolted out of the Oscar ceremony after he failed to win for Best Supporting Actor. That was the thing that tipped the scales. A Murphy comedy getting a zero first choice three weeks from opening? You tell me what it means, but how many interpretations can there be?

“Akin to being locked with a clergyman and a clown in a flaming car hurtling over a cliff.” — from a review of Mike Myers‘ The Love Guru by the Toronto Star‘s Peter Howell. Proving that there’s sometimes an upside to watching terrible movies. They can get you so worked up that you succumb to a kind of temporary insanity, and out of that fanged-tooth madness come images of deranged clowns, flaming cars and the comfort of an early death, Thelma and Louise-style.

A just-out nationwide Newsweek poll of registered voters has Barack Obama leading John McCain by 15 points, 51 to 36.

Updated: The thrust of this Anne Thompson Variety piece is that Will Smith is pretty much the only guy right now whose movies can’t seem to fail, no matter how mediocre they may be. The article is written with a sportswriter-like aplomb and a seasoned understanding of the how the marketplace works, etc., but it’s basically a show of obeisance before box-office power.
The best thing that could happen to the guy, of course, would be to fail as this would make him dig deeper and try harder, which would lead to growth and maturity as an artist-performer. Smith has made exactly three “growth” movies since he graduated from Fresh Prince of Bel Air — Six Degrees of Separation (’93), Ali (’01) and The Pursuit of Happyness (’06). Three such efforts in 15 years time obviously indicates an attitude of cruising and contentment. Which, of course, a true artist should never embrace. Although I have to say he really nailed that dog-dying scene in I Am Legend.
Stay anxious, stay hungry. Just ask Bob Rafelson.

My father died last night. I got the news right after last night’s memorial service for former Orion and Magnolia exec Jay Peckos at the Landmark Cinemas. I’m mentioning this because a touching photo montage (one of those computer-driven deals with a music soundtrack) was shown at the Peckos tribute, and I’d like to create the same kind of presentation for my dad’s memorial service, which will be held in Southbury, Connecticut, next month.
Except I want to mix in some video clips with the stills. To edit this together on my laptop I’ll first need to transfer some 8mm videocassettes to disc, but I don’t want to pay the rates charged by pirates who do this sort of thing for a living. If anyone knows of a cheaper backdoor way to go, please advise. Sorry but I hate paying retail. Can’t hurt to ask.

For me, Man on Wire (Magnolia, opening in late July) — the story of Petit’s illegal high-wire walk between the World Trade Center’s towers in August 1974 — is the most stirring and suspenseful film of its kind that I’ve seen since Touching The Void. It’s too electric and gripping to be called a mere documentary; another term has to be found. The L.A. Film festival screening happens tonight at Westwood’s Crest theatre.

Man on Wire director James Marsh (l.) and celebrated wire-walker Phillipe Petit about 75 minutes ago (4:25 pm, give or take) at the Four Seasons hotel.

In honor of tonight’s swear-along screening of Scarface at the John Ford Anson amphitheatre, a YouTube clip that features all 226 f-word expletives.

Three of my favorite scenes from Karel Reisz‘s Who’ll Stop The Rain? Rich cryptic dialogue on this level (which is largely taken verbatim Robert Stone‘s novel) has almost completely disappeared from movies. Clip #1 — “I’ve been waiting all my life to fuck up like this.” Clip #2 — “All my life I’ve been taking shit from inferior people…no more!” Clip #3 — “I hate jailbird chess…I hate the style…like a fuckin’ little tweety bird…’eeww, here‘s a move!”

An interview between original Inglorious Bastards director Enzo G. Castellari and Quentin Tarantino on the forthcoming three-disc DVD (out 7.29) of his 1978 film reveals that Tarantino’s new version of the film, which may be shot and released sometime before 2010, will be a two-parter like Kill Bill. This, at least, is what Harry Knowles is reporting. Good God.

The interview, says knowles, also reveals that Tarantino “has been writing almost non-stop on Inglorious Bastards.” Is that why Tarantino said at last month’s Cannes Film Festival that he’d finished a first draft? After talking about wanting to make this thing for…what, the last nine or ten years?

My only concern about Burn After Reading, the comic tone of which seems exqisite in its dry, deadpan-ness (being a smart but broad lampoon of stupid people with delusions of grandeur), is that it’ll be too fully appreciated and digested by the time in opens in mid-September. Meaning that people may go to it saying, “Yeah, yeah, we get all that, fine. But that was last summer and this is September, so what else can you show us?” I’m speaking, of course, about a very small group of online trailer-watching aficionados.