Robert Fuller…and Stuff

It’s obvious to my friends and followers that I’m fascinated by actor Robert Fuller at the moment.  To spare everyone from too much obsessing, I’ve joined his official yahoo fan group.  It’s really fun to interact with fans from as  far away as Australia and Italy.  This means I’ll probably be missing out on other entertainment opportunities—I didn’t get around to checking out the Bay to Breakers fun run in San Francisco yesterday with my camera.  No new crazy costume photos to share!  No worries, though, because I’m doing lots of volunteer work in June.  There will be plenty to report.  For now, I’m watching lots of old westerns and making collages…

Lawman: The Friend

Wagon Train: The Kate Parker Story

Dr. Brackett on Emergency!

The Avengers

I ditched work this afternoon to see Marvel’s The Avengers.  It was okay though, because my boss went with me.  We both enjoyed the movie, and it certainly helped that we had previously watched Iron Man, Thor and Captain America together.  I would have been a little more up to speed if I’d seen Iron Man 2, since Scarlett Johansson’s character was introduced in that one.  Can you enjoy The Avengers without seeing any of the other Marvel films that came before?  I have no idea, but I think knowing the back stories of the characters definitely helps.  [Warning: this contains some plot spoilers. ]

Jeremy Renner (great arms) and Tom Hiddleston (having a great time)

The happiest surprise for me is Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.  I’m no fan of the Hulk, and even though I like Bill Bixby, I never enjoyed watching him as Banner in The Incredible Hulk TV series.  Ruffalo’s Banner is intelligent and wryly funny.  His exchanges with Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) make for some of the best moments in The Avengers.  Downey provides most of the comic relief, but even  straight-laced Captain America (Chris Evans) gets a laugh with his line about flying monkeys.  I really enjoyed Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) but wish he didn’t spend most of the movie with the freaky makeup and eyes.  I just looked at his amazing arms during those scenes.  Everybody in the movie is scary fit, with so many bulging muscles and tight buns and those veins that pop out—do those have a name?—that I might end up with a bad inferiority complex now.  Best to avoid mirrors for a day or two.

I wrote in my review of Thor that I really like actor Tom Hiddleston (Loki).  I like him even more in this new film, because he’s obviously having a great time.  He’s also not as lean and hungry-looking.   I know he lost weight for Thor, but it was too much for my taste.  I can’t wait to see him as Prince Hal/Henry V in the BBC’s new Shakespeare history cycle.  (Here’s a preview clip!)  It was also fun spotting Ashley Johnson (Growing Pains) and Harry Dean Stanton in their small roles in The Avengers.  85-year-old Stanton appeared in Laramie and The Rifleman, my two favorite TV westerns.  I didn’t spot Stan Lee, but I wouldn’t know him if he fell on me.

I read some of the pieces online about Indians being annoyed about only the poorest part of Kolkata being shown in the film.   That segment was so short and quick, I’m sure I wouldn’t have paid attention if I hadn’t read about it beforehand.  I was just pleased to understand some of the Hindi, because of all the Indian films I’ve watched.  I will say that eleven years is still not long enough for me to be comfortable seeing New York City attacked, with sections of buildings falling down on people.  Why does it always have to be Manhattan, anyway?  Once the streets were clear of pedestrians, I was able to relax and enjoy the film again.

If you’ve seen The Avengers, let me know your thoughts.  If you haven’t, it’s important to stay for at least part of the credits at the end.  After the big names, before all the thousands of special effects folks start scrolling, there is an extra scene that sets things up for The Avengers 2.

Update:  Oops!  I just found out there were TWO bonus scenes during the credits.  I only stayed for one of them.  I had to ask another friend for a description of the second one, which comes all the way at the very end.  Now I’ll definitely have to rent the DVD.

Aztec Camera: Somewhere in My Heart

This is especially for Kevin!  We were reminiscing about 80s songs, and I told him how much I love this one.  He looked blank and said “File not found!  I don’t remember that.”  I’m sure it was my off-key singing, not his memory.  I spent the summer of 1988 in England, and this was my favorite song all summer long.  One of my jobs was spending six miserable weeks as an au pair.  I had four minutes of happiness whenever the baby and I danced around the room with this blasting on the tape deck.  Thanks, Roddy Frame!

Coffee, Tea or Gravy?

Check out this great moment from the second season of the western series Laramie.  In Queen of Diamonds, Slim Sherman (John Smith) has coffee at the Laramie cafe with guest star Julie London.  Instead of a pitcher of cream, the Chinese waiter gives them a gravy boat!  Either the prop staff was off their game that day, or they thought it would be charming for folks in a western town to make do.  Perhaps a rowdy cowboy broke their pitcher?  Or maybe cowboys like a LOT of cream in their coffee.

(It’s always the little things that amuse me…)

A Sci-Fi Goof

I was watching hulu.com last night, when an ad for Battlestar Galactica interrupted my program.   I usually don’t pay attention during ad breaks, but this graphic in the middle of the trailer jumped out at me.  Maybe the spell checker was replaced by an evil Cylon?!

Laramie

It was inevitable that I would get into the television series Laramie (1959-63).   Once I’d watched every episode of The Rifleman, it was only matter of time before I turned to another western.  Why Laramie?   Just keeping it in the family, so to speak.  Johnny Crawford co-stars in The Rifleman, and his older brother Robert Crawford Jr. co-stars in Laramie, at least in the first season and the beginning of the second.  I’d never watched Laramie before I purchased season one on DVD, since it wasn’t syndicated widely.  The DVDs have only been recently released, and the image quality is pretty poor.  The color seasons (three and four) are even worse, but the series is good enough to keep me watching.

Slim Sherman (John Smith) is raising his kid brother Andy (Crawford) at the family ranch, which is also a stage stop on the way to Laramie, Wyoming.  Old Jonesy (Hoagy Carmichael) helps out around the place.  In the pilot, drifter Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) clashes with Slim but is immediately welcomed by Andy.  Naturally, Jess sticks around to become a part of the family.   The plots tend to swing back and forth between stories centering on either Slim or Jess, who are often away from the ranch having adventures in nearby towns or out in the wilderness.  Sometimes they get pretty far from home—The Run to Tumavaca takes them all the way to Mexico.  Andy and Jonesy usually always get left behind.  This is probably why these two characters fade away by the time season two gets rolling.  An elderly housekeeper (the delightful Spring Byington) and an orphan (Dennis Holmes) join Jess and Slim for seasons three and four.

Laramie, featuring (center clockwise) John Smith, Robert Fuller, Robert Crawford Jr. and Hoagy Carmichael. (click to see larger versions)

Slim is pretty uptight and stern at the start of the series, but he loosens up and gets more interesting as his relationship with Jess develops.  Jess is an impulsive hothead, but his character mellows somewhat under Slim’s influence.  I only knew Robert Fuller from his years on Emergency!  He’s definitely my favorite actor in Laramie.  He makes a great cowboy.

All four seasons of Laramie are available on DVD.  Netflix has seasons three and four only.