Posted On: Monday - March 3rd 2025 6:18PM MST
In Topics: Music Movies Bread and Circuses
Actor Gene Hackman, his wife, and dog dead. Nobody cares!
To be slightly more precise, I mean nobody on the Peak Stupidity staff cares. The country seems to - that's a problem for me. Bread & Circuses are bad, mmmkaaay?
I don't like the worship of Hollywood Celluloid Heroes. These are people that can act like they're someone else, reproduce human feelings, and memorize some lines for a few minutes. It's not like they work for a living or anything.
Of course, the idea is that many are very hot or handsome. This guy is not that either, not that this has anything to do with my point here. We can see those cute* and hot girls in the movies, which is much appreciated, but it doesn't mean I care a whit about what these people do off the silver screen.
I get that the death of this movie star and wife and dog with him is something of a mystery. Go read a Sherlock Holmes novel if you like that stuff. Lookit, in the week that this will be discussed throughout the Infotainment "Industry", probably dozens or hundreds of other strange/tragic events happened to other American families. But they weren't in the movies though. What's the diff?
I don't believe in Celluloid Heroes, but a band called The Kinks did. The same general principle applies. These guys made great music. What they think about Hollywood - hence the lyrics - means almost nothing to me. The song has a great melody and a great sound. I like this live version from The Kinks' excellent album One For the Road. The album is from 1979, but the band wrote the song back in '72.
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The following actors and actresses are mentioned: Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis, George Sanders, Marilyn Monroe, and Mickey Rooney. They've got their lives' work saved in old celluloid, magnetic tape, or digital form, and we can walk on top of their stars if we give a rat's ass about Hollywood Boulevard. I have been long ago, but sorry, they're not my heroes.
That has got to be the best music Peak Stupidity has posted (first time) in a long while. The 2 minute long intro, with that synthesizer and then the great Dave Davies lead guitar, gives me chills.
I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,Actually, I think these Ray Davies lyrics are very good. I just don't agree, if that makes any sense.
a fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
because celluloid heroes never feel any pain,
and celluloid heroes never really die.
The Kinks:
Ray Davies – guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
Dave Davies – lead guitar, backing vocals
Ian Gibbons – keyboards, backing vocals
Mick Avory – drums
Jim Rodford – bass, backing vocals
* When it comes to Gene Hackman movies, I will say that an obscure one called Full Moon in Blue Water was very good. That has to do mostly with the fact that co-star Teri Garr was soooo cute.
After hearing of it for many years, I found that The French Connection sucked. It was one long chase scene. The best car chases happen on the road as in Smokey & the Bandit, Vanishing Point, and Midnight Run**, although The Blues Brothers had a decent urban car chase.
** That movie is one of my favorites. I DO happen to know some things Robert DeNiro does off the screen, like freak out about President Trump. See?
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[UPDATED 03/05:] Changed post title to match the Kinks song.
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Comments:
Mr. Anon
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 9:55PM MST
PS
I should have said commenter "The Alarmist".
Agree about Teri Garr. R.I.P.
I should have said commenter "The Alarmist".
Agree about Teri Garr. R.I.P.
Mr. Anon
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 9:47PM MST
PS
The manner of death is odd, although it might have happened as outlined by commenter Adam Smith. By all accounts, Hackman was a decent human being - not the usual stuck-up Hollywood type.
I have to disagree about the French Connection. I thought it was great. I liked the guerilla film-making style of it and the gritty, harsh, cold look of it. New York City in the early 70s looked interesting. And I thought the acting and characterizations were good too. I like a lot of similar movies of that era: Serpico, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, etc.
Hackman was also in "March or Die" about the French Foreign Legion, which looked interesting, but I've never seen it.
The manner of death is odd, although it might have happened as outlined by commenter Adam Smith. By all accounts, Hackman was a decent human being - not the usual stuck-up Hollywood type.
I have to disagree about the French Connection. I thought it was great. I liked the guerilla film-making style of it and the gritty, harsh, cold look of it. New York City in the early 70s looked interesting. And I thought the acting and characterizations were good too. I like a lot of similar movies of that era: Serpico, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, etc.
Hackman was also in "March or Die" about the French Foreign Legion, which looked interesting, but I've never seen it.
Moderator
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 8:21PM MST
PS: Ooops, that Kinks song is "Living on a Thin Line". "Walking on a Thin Line" is a Huey Lewis & The News song. It was Huey's attempt to be "angry all the time", but I don't think Huey Lewis could be angry if his life depended on it.
Moderator
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 12:03PM MST
PS: Hello, Adam, now it's 3201. Life moves fast ... [/Bueller] I agree that the mystery in this one makes it better Infotainment then you're died on the set, having a casting call on the couch with rising star Phoebe something ... no, wait.
Still, I just don't care. Yes, Gene Hackman was in a lot of movies. I'm sure I enjoyed many, in addition to the one I mentioned, "Full Moon in Blue Water".
Still, I just don't care. Yes, Gene Hackman was in a lot of movies. I'm sure I enjoyed many, in addition to the one I mentioned, "Full Moon in Blue Water".
Moderator
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 12:00PM MST
PS: Good afternoon, Alarmist. I have seen the various headlines. Your theory makes a lot of sense. Dogs will eat anything. (Even dead bodies, eventually...)
"Catch Me Now, I'm Falling" is indeed appropriate. I used their song "Walking on a Thin Line", with they lyric "There's no England now" already.
"Catch Me Now, I'm Falling" is indeed appropriate. I used their song "Walking on a Thin Line", with they lyric "There's no England now" already.
The Alarmist
Tuesday - March 4th 2025 8:24AM MST
PS
Sad indeed. Dude probably passed from heart failure, wife took a few downers to ease the pain and, most likely inadvertently, took a few too many, and the dog ate too many that ended up on the floor.
I realize it might be seen to be ironic, but for your next post on EU-404-USA I nominate “Catch me now I’m Falling” by the Kinks.
🕉
Sad indeed. Dude probably passed from heart failure, wife took a few downers to ease the pain and, most likely inadvertently, took a few too many, and the dog ate too many that ended up on the floor.
I realize it might be seen to be ironic, but for your next post on EU-404-USA I nominate “Catch me now I’m Falling” by the Kinks.
🕉
Adam Smith
Monday - March 3rd 2025 9:38PM MST
PS: Good evening, Achmed!
Yes. Gene Hackman was in a whole lot of films...
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls076237012/
Many of them, pretty good.
It's not unusual or weird for a 95 year old to die, but his much younger (30 years) wife and one of their dogs dying at or around the same time is a little odd. (As I understand only one if his three dogs died, the most elderly of the three. The other two are alive and ok. Perhaps a bit on edge from watching more than half of their pack die a week before anyone found their decomposing bodies, but I hear they are in good hands.) That may be part of why ＜s＞this has caught people's attention＜/s＞ the idiot plate people are broadcasting this story far and wide.(?) A 95 year old celebrity passing isn't all that newsworthy, but this being a bit different makes for good infotainment, I guess.(?)
But, yeah. I otherwise agree with you about the celebrity bread & circuses stuff. Too many people focused on the wrong stuff.
(Too bad about Trans Icon Robert DeNiro being such a fag.)
Happy not quite Tuesday Morning! ☮️
Yes. Gene Hackman was in a whole lot of films...
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls076237012/
Many of them, pretty good.
It's not unusual or weird for a 95 year old to die, but his much younger (30 years) wife and one of their dogs dying at or around the same time is a little odd. (As I understand only one if his three dogs died, the most elderly of the three. The other two are alive and ok. Perhaps a bit on edge from watching more than half of their pack die a week before anyone found their decomposing bodies, but I hear they are in good hands.) That may be part of why ＜s＞this has caught people's attention＜/s＞ the idiot plate people are broadcasting this story far and wide.(?) A 95 year old celebrity passing isn't all that newsworthy, but this being a bit different makes for good infotainment, I guess.(?)
But, yeah. I otherwise agree with you about the celebrity bread & circuses stuff. Too many people focused on the wrong stuff.
(Too bad about Trans Icon Robert DeNiro being such a fag.)
Happy not quite Tuesday Morning! ☮️
The Daily Stupid
Monday - March 3rd 2025 9:38PM MST
PS: Breaking News!!!
Neighbors say 95 year old man was "really slipping" during the "last couple months" that he was alive...
https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/1414278/gene-hackmans-friends-say-he-was-really-slipping-in-final-months
☮️
Neighbors say 95 year old man was "really slipping" during the "last couple months" that he was alive...
https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/1414278/gene-hackmans-friends-say-he-was-really-slipping-in-final-months
☮️
Moderator
Monday - March 3rd 2025 9:00PM MST
PS: I had to look that up, Adam. He was in a bunch of the Batman movies it looks like. I spent more time reading about The Kinks ..
Adam Smith
Monday - March 3rd 2025 7:56PM MST
PS: RIP, Lex Luthor...
And happy 3200, Achmed! ☮️
And happy 3200, Achmed! ☮️
I can't really argue against that because I can't remember that much of the movie. ;-} I just remember that I thought it sucked upon watching it. That was quite a few years ago, not when it came out, but maybe in the 1990s.